Kochi Corporation to Resume Drive Against Low-Hanging Overhead Cables
Kochi Corporation will resume its drive to clear low-hanging overhead cables, recovering costs from operators, amid High Court directives and calls for a lasting solution.
The Kochi Corporation is preparing to restart its drive to clear low-hanging overhead cables from several stretches of the city, with the expense of removal to be recovered from the owners of the cables.
The Kerala High Court has repeatedly instructed the Corporation and the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL) to locate and take down dangerous, low-hanging and untagged internet and cable television wires. Such cables have been linked to accidents, including fatal ones, and remain a familiar sight on many prominent roads.
Mayor V.K. Minimol said the Town Planning Committee has been directed to begin the exercise at the earliest, remove the cables and recover the costs from the operators concerned, in line with the auditors' instructions. The agency authorised to install master boards in the city has also been asked to take down illegal advertisement boards and keep cables in order along stretches where it manages master boards.
The Mayor pointed out that only three companies hold Corporation permits for drawing overhead cables, while many other operators continue to string cables across electricity poles by paying fees only to KSEBL.
Town Planning Committee chairperson P.M. Naseema said the drive, which was temporarily halted during the football World Cup, will resume soon. Zonal-level meetings involving the division councillors concerned will be held to bring order to the maintenance of overhead cables and to cut them wherever required.
Although the Corporation and KSEBL carry out periodic clean-up drives, the situation tends to slide back into disarray shortly afterwards.
E. Jayadevan, president of the Kerala Cable Television Federation, said most of the cables left behind are no longer in use. Major operators often prefer to lay fresh cables instead of tracing and fixing complaints, and companies migrating to newer technologies rarely bother to remove the redundant cables they have already laid, he said.
Mr. Jayadevan argued that the authorities have never worked out a permanent solution. He suggested that KSEBL introduce a clamp system on its electric poles, make it mandatory for all cables to be drawn through it and properly tagged, and remove all other cables. A duct system should also be made universal, doing away with overhead cables altogether, he added.