Hyderabad: The Charminar pedestrianisation project has encountered a strange problem. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had dug a 330-metre underground duct over a decade ago to shift the electricity cables and is now unable to locate it.
The civic body had failed to mark the entry and exit of the duct. The GHMC subsequently laid a pavement on the area.
The GHMC now faces the prospect of digging up the pavement to try and locate the duct. The job could cost the GHMC Rs 10 lakh. The corporation is looking for help from the government.
According to highly-placed sources, the und-erground ducting was done in 2008-09 for cable shifting at Laad Bazaar. With the duct not marked and officials getting transferred, the new personnel who were unaware of the ducting works laid granite pavement over the area.
The corporation will have to search for the duct by excavating the whole stretch to connect it to the new ducts at Gulzar Houz and Sardar Mahal Road.
The civic body approached the electricity department to lay cables in the three stretches in the vicinity of the Charminar. The department has demanded `33 lakh.
Sources said that the corporation has gone back to its old records to identify the location of the duct which was dug during the tenure of then commissioner Dr P.K. Mohanty.
He said that the pedestrianisation project was already delayed due to the lack of co-ordination between the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Heritage department, electricity, traffic police and departments within the GHMC.
The negligence of the engineering officials in marking the underduct is now expected to cost more labour, money and time. The official said the cost of digging up the pavement, finding the duct and re-paving the place will cost `10 lakh.
Regarding the eletricity department demanding `33 lakh, the officer said shifting the power cables and connecting them was a specialised task and the job of the electricity department and it should not be asking for money. Since utility shifting was a skilled work, the GHMC cannot do it by their own.
The official said the issue would be taken to the notice of the municipal administration and urban development department to resolve the issue quickly.
Asked about the issue, the electricity department official dealing with the project said that the department was not disowning the project but requesting the corporation to compensate it for the work hours and the labour.
