A contractor with the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (Bescom) has been arrested for not taking police permission for digging a busy road near the Marathahalli bridge in eastern Bengaluru.
Around 4 am on Sunday, policemen on night patrol found some people digging the road using hydraulic machines. When questioned, they said they were from Bescom and were laying electrical wires. The police were shocked as they had not received any intimation about the road-digging. Since the stretch sees heavy traffic, police permission is mandatory for digging the road. The police usually check for VIP movements before granting permission. “In this case, we were neither intimated nor had we given permission. What’s more, the men spoke to the officers rudely,” a senior police officer.
The matter was brought to the attention of the top brass which directed the inspector of the jurisdictional Old Airport traffic police station to register an FIR against the contractor, Hanumantharayappa, arrest him and seize the machinery. The contractor was later released on bail after Bescom officials stood surety. It later emerged that he hadn’t taken permission from any civic authority.
The officer said that the incident should serve as a lesson for other contractors and that no agency can dig the road as per its convenience.
Digging even a small patch of a busy road will hamper traffic on the entire stretch and inconvenience the motorists. Several factors need to be considered and necessary arrangements made before the road-digging is taken up, he added.
Published 18 September 2016, 21:08 IST