FIR against Airtel for illegally digging up road

Following a complaint from the BBMP, the Hulimavu police have booked Airtel for damaging a newly asphalted part of Bannerghatta Road by laying out optic fibre cables (OFCs).

The police have booked the company and charged it them under the Karnataka Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and also under relevant sections of the IPC.

H C Krishna Kumar, an engineer in the BBMP's road infrastructure, said in his complaint that the Palike had taken up road widening and asphalting works from Bannerghatta main road till JD Mara Circle over the past six months. Now, Airtel is laying optic fibre cables in the area without prior permission from the civic authority. The company has dug up the roads along BJ Road near Arekere signal, near Narayana Nethralaya and near Gottigere over the past one week, the complaint said.

BBMP, in an official release, said: "The user agency Airtel has been directed to pay Rs 68.14 lakh towards the repair of the roads."