THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran has called a meeting of two telecom companies on September 6 to discuss the conditions put forth by the LDF government on laying the fibre optical cables across the state. He had announced on August 10 that he would end the monopoly enjoyed by Reliance Jio Infocomm and Idea Cellular groups to lay fibre optical cables in the state.
He had then alleged that a former chief secretary and an additional secretary had approached him as agents of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Idea Cellular respectively seeking permission to lay cables on 7,500 km roads in the state which he rejected. DC had reported that Mr Sudhakaran had sought the permission of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to cancel the contract given to the telecom companies by the UDF government.
“I have decided to call a meeting of the representatives of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Idea Cellular on September 6, who have sought the permission to lay fibre optical cables. It was former PWD secretary and the current parliamentary affairs secretary T. O. Sooraj who issued the GO allowing these companies to lay the cables,” Mr Sudhakaran told DC.
The GO issued by Mr. Sooraj has already been cancelled and permission would be granted to the telecom companies only as per certain conditions envisaged by the PWD, he said. Mr Sudhakaran iterated that though the union government’s IT policy was being implemented across the country, the PWD and NH roads belong to the state and centre respectively. The telecom companies cannot dig up the roads as per their wish, he added.
