OFCs resurface in sewage lines

The ‘strong resolution’ adopted by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Council against laying of optical fibre cables illegally, appears to have  failed in meeting the desired objective.

While the OFCs laid earlier have not been removed despite the Council resolution, it has now come to light that cables are being laid afresh.

A reader from Shanthinagar called up this newspaper two days ago complaining that an OFC runs through the sewerage line in his locality, which he feared, could choke the flow. Requesting anonymity, the reader said his complaint to the local BBMP office did not yield any result.

An OFC encased in a plastic pipe emerges from a sewerage line and goes up on a tree near MG Road. The security guard of a nearby apartment said the drain choked recently and the BWSSB staff cleaned it, without removing the cable. Obviously, the ‘stern stand’ taken by corporators against OFC companies seems to have had no deterring effect.

Leader of the Opposition in the BBMP Council, M K Gunashekar, complained that in his ward a bunch of OFCs run through a sanitary line from Cantonment Railway Station Bridge to Munireddypalya police station.

“The cable was removed when I complained to the assistant executive engineer. A month
later, it resurfaced at the same place in the same manner,” he said.

Matter sub judice

The engineer, when contacted, expressed his helplessness as the matter was pending before the High Court, Gunashekar added.

“The matter before the High Court pertains to cables laid legally and not about those cables laid illegally. These are lame excuses,” he said.

A senior BBMP officer dealing with OFCs said the Palike commissioner wrote a letter to the BWSSB to identify places where the cables have been laid inside the sanitary lines unauthorisedly.

 “The Board has not replied in the last six months,” the officer said. He also blamed the BBMP ward officers for remaining mute spectators to  the OFCs laid illegally.

According to the officer, the telecom companies have given an undertaking that they have laid only 6,062 km OFCs, while the Palike suspects that 25,000 km of  OFCs have been laid.

The Palike had passed a resolution about a year ago that it will charge Rs 300 per metre for laying OFCs in the City and Rs 120 per metre as rent every month from the telecom companies.

The Palike intends to generate a revenue of Rs 800 crore from the OFCs alone. The target is yet to be achieved.