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KMC selects five roads where overhead cables will be shifted underground

Focus on Park Street, Alipore Road, Asutosh Mukherjee Road, Hazra Road and Judges Court Road

Subhajoy Roy Kolkata Published 15.06.22, 06:39 AM
A stretch of Harish Mukherjee Road cleared of overhead cables.

A stretch of Harish Mukherjee Road cleared of overhead cables. Pradip Sanyal

Park Street, Asutosh Mukherjee Road, Hazra Road, Judges Court Road and Alipore Road will have ducts under them so overhead cables can be removed and taken underground, Kolkata Municipal Corporation officials said.

The civic body on Tuesday identified the five roads for replicating what has been done along Harish Mukherjee Road, said mayoral council member Sandip Ranjan Bakshi.

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The Telegraph reported on Tuesday that overhead Internet and television cables have been removed from a stretch of Harish Mukherjee Road four years after the KMC had first spoken of the possibility of taking the wires underground.

On Monday, the KMC had decided to replicate the model on five more roads.

The roads were identified on Tuesday.

“We will build ducts under Park Street, Alipore Road, Asutosh Mukherjee Road, Hazra Road and Judges Court Road so the utility cables can run underground,” said Bakshi, who has been in talks with operators about removing overhead cables.

“We will float a tender to build the underground ducts within two months,” he said.

After the removal of the cables, Harish Mukherjee Road now has a much cleaner look. Some of the old grand houses along the road can be seen unhindered. Earlier, the mesh of cables would block the view.

The KMC has also fixed the rates that the operators have to pay for using the ducts under Harish Mukherjee Road. Building the ducts had cost the KMC Rs 48 lakh.

“Big operators will have to pay Rs 100 per metre per duct per year. Smaller ones and local cable operators will have to pay Rs 20 per metre per duct per year,” said Bakshi.

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