The KolkataMunicipal Corporation (KMC) has managed to take all overhead cables running along Harish Mukherjee Road underground save those of police and its own.
The KMC had undertaken a pilot project along Harish Mukherjee Road to remove all overhead cables. The civic body built ducts under the footpaths along both sides of the road so that the cables could be taken through them.
The overhead Internet and TV cables have been removed and new cables have been laid underground.
The work has been completed on a 1km stretch of Harish Mukherjee Road, between the Gurdwara Sant Kutiya and Jai Hind Bhavan.
The thick bunch of cables that were found even six months back cannot be seen above the footpaths now.
But two types of cables are still hanging overhead — they belong to the police and the KMC. “The police have not removed the cables attached to the CCTV cameras and the traffic lights. We have our own cables also that provide electricity to the streetlights. Barring these two, all other types have been removed,”said a KMC official.
CCTV cameras are installed along several roads in the city as they help in detecting crime and traffic rule violations. The cables that are connected to the CCTV cameras help transmit real-time images of a road to the police control room.
“When the work to remove the overhead cables began the police got in touch with us and told us to keep their cables untouched. We requested them to remove their cables. But the police cited security reasons and said they cannot be removed now,”said the official.
Overhead cables of KMC and police intact on Harish Mukherjee Road on Saturday. Sanat Kr Sinha
Mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday said he had requested the city police commissioner to take down the overhead cables belonging to the police from Harish Mukherjee Road. “We are requesting everyone to remove the overhead cables. I have requested the police commissioner to help us. I believe everyone will remove their cables,” said Hakim.
Subhankar Sinha Sarkar, joint commissioner (headquarters) of Kolkatapolice, promised to look into the matter. When Metro asked him about the overhead cables, Sarkar said: “We will look into this.”
The KMC official said inside the underground ducts, a space has been reserved for the cables of the streetlights.
The civic body has planned to take the streetlight cables through the underground duct to the point where a pole is present. Then the cables will run inside the poles and reach the streetlights fixed at the top. The electric poles are
hollow from inside, said the official “We need funds to do this.”
The civic body has been in discussions with multi-system operators and Internet service providers for a year to remove their overhead cables and lay new ones underground.
Metro had reported in November 2021 that though the underground ducts were ready by Durga Puja last year, the overhead cables were still dangling above. The KMC spent Rs 48 lakh to build the underground ducts.
“It is ironic that the KMC itself took this project to remove overhead cables from the road but two government agencies have not removed their overhead cables. The government should be the first one to follow the rule it has framed,”said a Bhowanipore resident.