The deadly hazards of dangling cables

Take a walk on SJP Road in Bengaluru and look up: all you see is a web woven by cables, some live and some dead, some Internet and some power.

Trees and electricity poles erected by Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) are the most abused. Some cables are carelessly strewn across footpaths and roads.

These can be fatal to the public. Anjali Saini, a member of the Whitefield Rising community, recalls an incident in which a person sustained injuries after a dangling cable tied to an electric pole got stuck to a moving tractor’s wheel and pulled down the pole.

“We are indeed Silicon Valley of India; we do need internet connections. But that does not mean people should be inconvenienced,” says Anjali.

“Other than making the city look ugly, the danger caused by these cables is nothing short of murder,” she adds. “It is not difficult to enforce rules on private parties; it just needs willpower,” she adds. She says Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) ward engineers are responsible for the removal of cables.

‘No one issues permission’

However, BBMP engineers have a different version. Yamuna, BBMP Chief Engineer (Optical Fibre Cables (OFC), told DH that the BBMP is responsible only for OFC works that involve digging the road. For these, it needs to give them written permission and is authorised to collect a fee.

“Door-to-door connections and the removal of defunct connection cables do not fall under the purview of ward engineers or any of the BBMP divisions. We do not give any permission to any cable operators to lay cables or mandate the operators to remove them. There has been no connection between them and the municipality from the beginning,” she added.

She said that in a state government meeting, cable operators said they get permission from the central government to use public properties and poles and do not need any other permission from the local governments.

This is at the heart of the problem. An executive from a broadband service provider firm told DH that they take permission from the central department, which is sufficient for them to lay cables wherever needed. He added that they do not need local permission, and local bodies cannot press for it.

Even in the case of underground installations where local permission is needed, rules are not followed. Vishnu Prasad, founder of Bellandur Development Forum, narrates an instance of a notice issued for the Haralur area being used for work in the Kasavanahalli area. “Nobody reads these permissions, so these people get away,” he says.

Age-old problem

The problem is not new. According to the BBMP, cables can be laid only underground, and permissions are never given to lay cables over the ground. However, the end-to-end connectivity of broadband and cable connections needs over-ground cable connectivity.

The overhead cables to connect homes to the internet and cable TVs are not removed when someone disconnects them. People move homes and offices get relocated, but the cables stay. The new tenant takes a fresh connection from a fresh service provider. Sometimes, the companies that install these are so careless that even live cables start hanging. These look ugly and also threaten public safety.

Bengaluru has no re-use policy for these connecting cables.

When the OFC cable menace became unbearable, resident welfare associations from Whitefield and Bellandur complained to the government. As a result, BBMP and BESCOM started an extra OFC cable removal drive. However, cellular operators said that these overhead cables being cut are authorised, and since they are part of a vast network, cutting them would lead to public inconvenience.

In April 2019, the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government Urban Development Department chaired a meeting that was attended by all key BBMP, BWSSB, and BESCOM officials. However, the Cellular Operators Association of India, the body comprising all telecom and internet operators who lay such cables, did not attend this meeting.

BESCOM officials in this meeting said that they withdrew the permissions it had given to operators to lay cables following the Department of Electrical Inspectorate’s clarification that other cables cannot be located on electricity infrastructure for maintenance and safety-related reasons.

In addition, BESCOM revealed its plan to shift all its cables underground. The meeting also decided not to cut the overhead cables which have due permission, and not to allow fresh cables to be fixed to electricity poles or trees.

However, even today, one can see BESCOM live wires in many areas. Prasad says the status quo has remained largely unchanged in the last five years.

Who should remove the cables?

Anjali Saini says the ward engineers and major road engineers are supposed to clear the cables because pedestrian safety is their responsibility. But they do not do it.

She questions the logic of allowing telecom companies to lay cables indiscriminately.

“All the big telecom companies are culprits. BBMP can issue a notice and stop them from all irregularities, but they let them operate,” she says, advocating strict measures against the companies.

“BBMP issues permission, but they do not check if the terms and conditions are followed,” she says.

“If someone complains to BESCOM about any extra cable laid on any BESCOM property, such as a pole or transformer, BESCOM staff remove it promptly these days,” Prasad says.

However, as per the process, BESCOM only cuts the cable, and BBMP is supposed to clear the cut cables. But this does not happen, resulting in carelessly thrown wires and cables on footpaths and roads.

“This is an age-old problem, but BBMP still does not have a policy on how to deal with this,” he says.

Problem of centralisation

“Earlier, zonal offices gave permissions to lay cables on roads, and it involved ward and zonal engineers. But now, this process is centralised. Local engineers and staff are unaware of these permissions,” Prasad explains another new problem.

“There is a rule that roads should not be dug within two years of laying it. And when it is dug, those who dug should fix it. Sometimes companies get permission for 2 kms of cable-laying, but they do 20-30 kms of work showing a notice, which, when checked, can reveal the irregularities,” he explains.

“Unless a standard policy for utilities is exercised across the city, such as utility ducts on all roads, the mess will continue. There should also be a rental to be collected to use the infrastructure,” he adds.