So Finally We're Saved.
Telecom, internet and cable operators consent to start work on common ductUnder pressure from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to go for a common duct, the telecom, internet and cable operators have sought permission to remove hanging wires from some of the main roads and take them through the side roads.
At the same time, they have also consented to start work on a common duct where all cables can be put in underneath within the next few days. Two months after the municipal corporation ordered the private operators to come out with a plan for the common duct, the latter finally seem to have fallen in line.
“We want to keep the main roads and central lighting poles free of the hanging cables by the time the bio-diversity meet begins in October. We are also keen to get the common duct going though there does not seem to be unanimity among the private operators,” said senior municipal officials on Tuesday after a delegation of telecom/internet/cable operators met Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu.
Hanging cables are to be removed on road stretches near the Police Control Room, Basheerbagh, Legislative Assembly, Khairatabad, Ameerpet and S.R.Nagar. Cables anyway have to be removed on National Highway 9 because of the metro rail works. Other road stretches include from NFCL junction till Mehdipatnam.
Telecom/internet operators have also sought permission for crossing 13 junctions in the above mentioned roads through digging since such work has been banned for more than a year save for the Water Board and the CPDCL.
Senior municipal officials are inclined to allow the work as a one time exception.
GHMC wants the duct to begin with between Charminar-Falaknuma and Indira Park to Nallakunta crossroads. There is a sense of urgency not just for the bio-diversity meet but also because there is a plan for a major overhaul of 170 km road stretches in phases scrapping the existing bitumen layers.
“If the telecom/internet operators are unable to form the consortium to take up the common duct we may have call for an expression of interest to entrust the work to a stand alone private agency,” added senior municipal officials.
The Hindu : Cities / Hyderabad : Hanging cables to be taken to side roads