Bengaluru: BBMP and Bescom have now decided to act tough on unauthorised optical fibre cables (OFCs) that cause inconvenience to motorists, pedestrians and also lead to outages.
They have decided to remove such cables without any prior notification. The companies or individuals who are responsible will be booked.
Bescom has been warning these OFC cable operators to remove their overhead lines, but in vain. Now, Bescom and BBMP, have decided to act together to end this menace.
A senior BBMP officer said, “Recently, a criminal case was registered against unknown people for laying unauthorised OFC in Bellandur and the police informed us. We went to the spot and removed it. We want to inform the companies that lay these cables underground or overhead to ensure that no disruption is caused to civic underground lines such as drainage, water pipes or electric wires. Otherwise criminal cases will be registered against them.” He urged the public should to report about the menace caused by such cables.
Another officer mentioned that they will soon have a meeting with Bescom officials, as they have also complained of OFCs getting intertwined with electric lines, leading to power supply disruption. “We will soon carry out a drive and remove such OFCs.
This has become a menace in the city and action will be taken against such companies. Most of them do not have permission to lay these cables and yet they do it with impunity,” the officer said.
The officer also added that these cables also cause a lot of problems to pedestrians. “There are people tripping over these cables and the private company which had laid them turns a blind eye. We will ensure that no such OFCs are found hanging or popping from the roads or pavements,” he said.
