BBMP plans to allow overhead OFCs via CCTV pole vault

With a private company offering to instal CCTV cameras on 86 kilometres of roads in eastern Bengaluru, the BBMP is sniffing an opportunity to string the Optical Fibre Cables along the surveillance system to generate revenue.

Should the structural cabling happen, this would be a major shift in the rules in laying OFCs in the city. It would also save agencies from digging the roads.

A BBMP official said there was already a proposal by an IT consultancy to instal CCTV cameras along 16 select roads. “Cameras will be installed for every 250 metres as part of road safety,” he said.

“As poles are said to be installed for this purpose, there’s a proposal to allow the installation of overhead OFCs via the poles on these roads,” he added. N Ramesh, the chief engineer of the OFC cell at the BBMP, confirmed to DH that there was such a proposal. “But chief engineers from various road works departments in the BBMP have to approve it,” he clarified.

“As part of the initiative, the Major Roads Department of the BBMP has already given clearance for their roads. But it must be said that overhead OFCs are not permitted within the city,” Ramesh said.

Another official who went through the proposal said that the BBMP is looking at revenue generation. He said the civic body would let companies pitch up their poles as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, while also allowing the OFC agencies to string their cables on them.

This is not without hitches. “The firm pitching the poles as part of the CSR will collect money from the OFC operators. “According to the information we received, the firm is already in contact with the OFC agencies and is putting pressure on them to string the cables on the CCTV poles. The OFC operators have even complained to the police about this,” the official said.

The official said the mechanism might result in chaos as some firms would make revenue in the name of CSR. “The existing underground OFC system should continue as per the Karnataka Municipal Council (KMC) Act. Also, this will only help a single agency to support the BBMP in revenue collection and they’ll later make a profit in the name of CSR,” he said.

Curiously, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said he was not aware of such a proposal.