BENGALURU: BBMP has decided to act tough on the overhead optical fibre cables installed by private operators and wants it to be shifted underground at the earliest.
The operators have sought minimum of 9-12 months to shift the overhead OFC cables, but the BBMP wants it to be done in three months and sought an action plan from them.
A top BBMP official claimed it is not an arduous task for the operators, but they were willfully delaying it as laying overhead cables is easier to install and less expensive, when compared with underground ones, which involves digging.
The official recalled when the BBMP recently carried out a drive and cut overhead cables in Sarjapur Road, Whitefield, Marathahalli, and Bellandur, the OFC operators were quick to complain that Palike was being high handed and they had the requisite permission for overhead cables. The drive had to be later called off, he said.
After a joint meeting of BBMP and OFC operators, they had agreed to shift the cables underground.
The city has approximately more than 2,000 km length of overhead cables and they should take urgent steps to shift them underground, he said.
