There will not be overhead cables in the Chennai city
Posted on: 11/Sep/2018 9:40:11 AM
Residents of Chennai city would have been familiar with many overhead cables. Soon these overhead cables would not be there. The latest news that has come out is GCC or Greater Chennai Corporation has increased the track rates of setting the cables on the street light poles. It is worthy to mention that the Chennai Corporation has increased the rates from Rs 43,191 to Rs 47,510 a km. This was mainly done for the sake of discouraging the companies from opting for the overhead cables.
An engineer spoke about how renewing licences every year and paying for the cables were done by nearly 25 companies. He added that now due to higher rates very few companies have come forward. One important point is there are 2.7 lakh street lights present in 15 zones of the corporation. Every year the rates are increased by 10 %.
According to the department data it is now brought out that there are nearly 4000 km of cables hanging from street light poles across the Chennai city. To lay cables, lamp posts of street lights have been used by the telecom companies and internet service providers. In the recent times many unauthorized cables are seen spoiling or defacing the entire Chennai city.
It was revealed by an official that cables up to 5 – 10 km were being removed every day and these cables were stored and later auctioned. He later threw light on the presence of 150km of cables present in the go-downs. It is now said that the revenue from the cables have come down from Rs 20 crores that was collected in 2017 to Rs 16 crores in 2018. Keeping the city of Chennai neat and tidy is very important and the official felt happy that his department were able to achieve this. It must be taken into account that the rate of the underground cables remain at Rs 9400 per km. The companies are shifting to underground cabling now and this was confirmed by a senior official. Until the month of July in 2018, Rs 30 crores has been collected as revenue and this amount would increase as more companies prefer underground cables.
It is now said that the companies prefer underground cables when compared to the overhead cables as the underground cables are much cheaper. The companies have to pay road cut charge compulsorily. A committee to study the above has been formed by the corporation. The rates of laying underground cables would also be increased. The proposal for this has been sent already and after getting the approval from the senior officials the rates would be raised. This was also confirmed by an official.
According to a corporation official belonging to electrical department, the lack of manpower and absence of separate team has been responsible for the increase in the unauthorized cables in Chennai city. He revealed that cable operators were responsible for these unauthorized cables and they are the major violators. Many warnings have been issued to these cable operators for violating the rules. He finally spoke about how inspection and cutting of unauthorized cables was carried out every day.
