KMC gives cable operators ultimatum to remove overhead wires from 40 roads

In a meeting held with the cable operators, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Wednesday gave an ultimatum to them for removing

overhead wires in at least 40 roads in the city and threatened to cut the wires if no action is taken. After the meeting, Member-Mayor-in-Council (MMIC) of the lighting department, Sandeep Bakshi, told the media that the civic body has given an ultimatum to the operators to remove all the overhead wires in a bid to free the city of wire-clutter. He said that the civic body has made a list of 40 roads where overhead wires will have to be taken underground in the next seven days. About 800 km of stretch will be surveyed which will comprise more than 35 arterial roads, it is learnt. Some

of the roads are CIT Road, APC Road, SN Banerjee Road, Ballygunge Circular Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Road etc. Bakshi said that if the instructions are not followed by the operators, then KMC’s lighting department engineers will cut the wires. He said the KMC has stopped permitting any new applications for overhead cables. The MMIC said that KMC has received some complaints where certain local cable operators are resisting the pulling down of overhead cables. In such cases, the director general of the lighting department has been asked to intervene and look into the complaints. Bakshi assured that it has been instructed that the process of removal of the wires must be initiated by Monday. On being pointed out that in some places the cable operators are alleging that the wires cannot be taken underground, Bakshi rubbished such claims and said most of the roads in the list are wide roads and wires can easily be made to pass through underground ducts. He added that only in the case of narrow alleys, KMC may permit drawing wires from only one pole at the end of the alley. Such wires, as per KMC, not just pave the way for visual pollution but also create a risk of electrocution. The low pressure may turn into a depression in the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, a 19-year-old youth from Hooghly died after drowning in the turbulent sea in Digha while another youth was injured. The dead student and the injured went to take a bath in Old Digha. The local administration has alerted the visitors saying that the sea may remain rough.