The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Cable TV wires on electricity poles continue to pose threat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 18, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Cable TV wires on electricity poles continue to pose threat

M. Sai Gopal

Electricity, municipal officials fail to hammer out a solution

LURKING DANGER: Haphazard cable wires on electric poles are posing a threat to pedestrians and commuters in the twin cities. — PHOTO: SATISH. H

HYDERABAD: Overhanging cable television wires on electricity poles, the veritable death traps, would continue to pose a threat to commuters and general public in the twin cities, as there seems to be no solution in sight from the `danger' in the near future.

Officials from the electricity and municipality departments are all at sea over the issue and have till now not managed to hammer out a solution from this public nuisance despite discussing the matter with cable operators, Master Service Operators (MSOs) and internet service providers.

Wary officials

Officials from the Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Limited (APCPDCL) are wary of collecting `fee' from cable operators and MSOs for using their electricity poles.

"If we start collecting fee, then it would give the cable operators legitimacy to use our electricity poles. We can easily clamp down on these operators but they would manage to stop us by getting support from politicians," a top official from APCPDCL said.

Underground cabling

Officials from the department have also made it clear that there are no `alternate avenues' to solve this problem except for the cable operators, MSOs and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to take up underground cabling.

Other metros

Officials of the APCPDCL had conducted studies of cable television wiring in metros like Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi.

The department officials point out that in Bangalore, the municipality is collecting Rs. 50 per pole per annum from the cable operators.

Study

"We had conducted the study yet we are not sure whether this scheme would work here. Our poles are designed to support only three power lines, however, on an average there are more than 20 wires hanging over the poles," the official said.

In Bangalore, Mumbai and in Chennai almost all the major arterial roads inside the city do not have cable wires hanging from electricity poles.

Only in Delhi, 40 per cent of the cabling is underground, the report from the study group said.

Huge operation

"They are asking us to take up underground cabling but it takes a lot of time and effort in taking up such a huge operation. Couple of meetings between electricity, MCH and our representatives were held but there was no breakthrough. They did not even inform us about the fee structure for using their poles," informs K. Siva Ramakrishna of Siti Cable.

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