Kasavanahalli residents stop illegal digging of roads but…

By Anuksha Dey 

Illegal digging of roads in Kasavanahalli to lay optic fibre cables (OFC) by Tata Sky,  Airtel and ACT Fibernet were stopped by the residents of KCC Layout and Tulasi Layout last Friday. However, the workers returned within a week to dig up the same roads. While the OFC agencies have received permission to lay cables in just a few roads, digging is being carried out indiscriminately in the neighbourhood, often at the cost of destruction of roads, infrastructure and underground pipelines in the area.

Illegal laying of OFC

Members of Bellandur Development Forum and residents of KPC Layout reported a group of construction workers digging in their neighbourhood at 10pm on February 25. The workers were stopped from working as no approvals were produced during daytime or at night. The BBMP chief engineer later revealed that the workers only had permission to dig in seven areas spread across 1560.51 metres of roads.

Digging resumes

On March 5, the digging resumed again. This time, the construction workers were back with permits. “This is a hand in glove business, they only try to get approvals if someone stops their work,” says Vishnu Prasad of Kasavanahalli Development Forum (KDF).  

The permission letter, however, states that the work should be done between March 2 and May 1. But the digging began a week before the permission was granted.

Damage to infrastructure

Meanwhile, Tata Sky Broadband’s OFC laying work damaged the Cauvery water pipelines in the Owner’s Court Layout, and left the area without water for more than 14 hours before the problem was fixed. “Tata Sky showed us an approval for work on Kasavanahalli Main Road from Amrita College to the Play Arena,” says Sudarshan Shastry, a resident of Owners Court Layout.

A Gail Gas Line and a second water line in the eastern part of the layout have also been damaged by the OFC firm. “The second water line was damaged four days ago and remains to be fixed,” says Shastry. “We have reported this to both the BBMP and BWSSB, but no action has been taken so far.”

Lack of proper auditing

License for the laying of cables is given by the BBMP from the headquarters. As these officers do not live in the area, they are giving permissions without understanding the ground realities at the ward level. Therefore, recently-asphalted streets are often dug up for laying cables even though digging up new roads before they complete one year is prohibited by the civic body. Furthermore, once the BBMP gives them permission to lay cables on a particular road, private companies often go ahead and dig up adjoining roads for which they have no permission. 

Better planning required

The BBMP imposed a Rs 25 lakh fine on private and government agencies digging roads without permission. However, private companies and government bodies continue to dig up roads without authorisation.  

In April 2019, Mahendra Jain, the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government for the Urban Development Department chaired a meeting to discuss an urgent intervention request issued to BBMP regarding the cutting of OFC in Bengaluru. The guidelines laid down after the meeting state that the agencies will not be allowed to lay cables, whether underground or overhead, without permission. They state: “If any unauthorised OFC cable is found, then BBMP should issue a short notice to OFC agencies for its removal to give an opportunity to the concerned to produce permission letter if any.” 

Additionally,  it says OFC providers should reconstruct the damaged roads within 48 hours.  However, in this case, the permission was only taken after the digging work began. Instead of fining the erring firms, BBMP issued a permission certificate so that the work could continue legally. 

 “The problem will not be solved till BBMP comes up with a proper policy for OFC firms,” says Prasad. “Proper ducts have to be provided when roads are being laid to prevent such problems later.”

All pics courtesy: KDF