The Palike permits the telecom operators to lay cables under ground. But, lack of a proper mechanism to ensure that they don’t damage sanitary or water pipelines while digging the roads to lay cables has caused a headache for the BWSSB. To save on Rs 54,000 to be paid to the civic agency for every kilometre of fibre cable laid, the companies surreptitiously dig the roads overnight, inserting the cables in the sanitary pipelines. The cables clog the flow of sewage, leading to sewage flowing onto the surface and damaging the pipelines. The misery is compounded for the public by the BWSSB taking up ‘maintenance’ work very often.
Optical fibre cables (OFC) are being laid from 1999 in the City, but till 2004, the BWSSB had no detailed information with it on the locations or length of the cables laid.
Venkatraju, BWSSB engineer-in-chief, says: “Around 11 pm, they come with their men and dig up roads and lay the cables. By 3 am, they are done with their work. How will we ever come to know if this is the way the work is done?”
Not a single higher level official of the telecom companies has bothered to attend the meetings convened by the Board so far to discuss the issue, he added.
B T Ramesh, BBMP chief engineer, says: “They (telecom operators) are supposed to inform the Bescom, BWSSB and BSNL before laying the cables. In fact, they never provide us with their maps and we don’t even know how, where the cables have been laid and for what length. Using horizontal drilling machines, the wires are inserted into the sewer pipes under the roads,” he says. It takes months to detect the clogging in the sewage pipelines.
“The cables are inserted into drinking water pipelines too. But within a few days, we get complaints regarding reduced flow of water. So, to avoid detection, the telecom companies prefer sanitary pipes to lay cables,” Raju says. The companies which save on the huge amount to be paid to the civic agency, pay 14 per cent of their profits to the Palike, but the Board suffers a huge loss.
Apart from the BWSSB, the Bescom too blames the Palike which accords permission to dig roads and doesn’t bother to repair them later.
A senior Bescom officer says that the permission is given after the telecom operator or the contractor deposits the fee. “We have to co-ordinate with the contractor and the Palike to ensure the process is not delayed,” he says.
But, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is an exception. Shubhendur Ghosh, Principal General Manager of BSNL, says: “We have a good rapport with the BBMP now. We get permission and finish it to the point of getting a certificate stating that the road has been reinstated as per norms. Sometimes, they do get back to us for clarifications, but we have not experienced any major problems.”