Begin shifting overhead cables on Harish Mukherjee Road in south Kolkata to underground ducts within seven days or the wires will be snipped, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials told cable operators, multi-system operators and Internet service providers on Monday.
The civic body has built underground ducts along 2km of the road that have been lying unused for over two months.
The Telegraph had reported on November 24 that the ducts were ready but the overhead cables for which they were built, were still hanging dangerously overground.
KMC had then fixed a meeting with the service providers to discuss a deadline about shifting overhead cables.
“We have told the service providers that they have to start the work of shifting the overhead cables within seven days. It seems it will take another 10 or 15 days for fresh wires to be laid in the underground ducts and remove the overhead cables,” said a KMC official.
“If any company fails to comply with this deadline, we will be forced to snip their cables,” said the official.
The service providers have to lay the cables inside underground ducts and check that the houses they served were receiving their Internet and cable TV services before removing the overhead cables of existing connections.
“They will get time to check that individual houses are getting their services. But they should not take an endless time to do this,” said the official.
KMC has built two underground ducts — one each of 8-inch diameter — under the two footpaths on both sides of Harish Mukherjee Road between the Kalighat fire station and the intersection of Harish Mukherjee Road and AJC Bose Road.
The service providers will now insert 13 smaller ducts of 40mm-diameter inside each of the two larger ducts. The smaller ducts will carry the cables.
The KMC meeting with Internet service providers and cable and multi-system operators on Monday. Bishwarup Dutta
Tapash Das, a joint secretary of All Bengal Cable and Broadband Operators’ United Forum, said on Monday that the forum and the KMC were on the same page this time.
“We, too, have asked all the operators to ensure that there is no delay. We will not stand up for anyone who will not comply with the deadline. Let us begin with one road. If this is successful, similar initiative can be thought of on other roads also,” said Das, who was present in Monday’s meeting.
It was fixed that even for providing connections to houses along the road, the operators would lift the paver blocks of the footpath and take the wires through the sand bed underneath. They can bring the cables overground only after they reach the property or the boundary of the property to which they would provide connection.
The KMC has created pits at gaps of every 30 metres that will be opened to take the connections to individual houses. No cable, barring the ones carrying electricity, will be allowed to stay overhead, KMC officials clarified at the meeting.
For roads branching off Harish Mukherjee Road, the cables can be taken overhead only after crossing the width of Harish Mukherjee Road.
The civic body has asked the operators to identify defunct cables that make up a bulk of overhead cables across Kolkata and remove them.
The operators have removed such defunct cables along some roads like the Ruby-Gariahat connector, also called Kasba connector, and SP Mukherjee Road. But the mess of overhead cables still hangs over multiple other roads. They are a threat to the safety of pedestrians and motorists, while also making the face of the city look ugly.