Deccan Herald 20.12.2013
Palike to take possession of unclaimed OFCs in City
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)
has warned the telecom firms that it will take possession of
unauthorised Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs) laid in the City if they do not
declare ownership and pay the regularisation fee before Saturday.
Addressing
reporters, N R Ramesh, who heads the BBMP’s panel on OFCs said many
telecom firms have agreed to declare the unauthorised cables laid in the
City and pay the regularisation fee before Saturday. Taking their
declaration into account, BBMP will claim ownership over the undeclared
cables and would auction it to other telecom firms.
Yediyur
corporator Ramesh said: “There are about 65,000 km OFCs laid in the City
but the telecom firms have disclosed ownership of 7,467 km cables. We
have data about the total OFC ducts in the City. If the telecom
companies don’t own the rest of the OFCs, we will claim rights over
them.”
The corporator said the service
providers have agreed to pay Rs 850 per metre as ground rent including
regularisation fee. The regularisation of the OFC would fetch at least
Rs 400 crore to the BBMP, said Ramesh.
In order to check unauthorised OFCs in the City, the BBMP would accept applications only through online system.
This
will enable the BBMP to review computerised applications and grant
permission accordingly. It will also help the BBMP identify where
unauthorised cables and ducts are laid afresh and would prevent digging
roads without permission for laying OFCs. With the introduction of new
system, the telecom firms will be responsible for restoring roads if
they dig up to lay cables.
Overhead cables
Ramesh said
BBMP commissioner M Lakshminarayana has directed the internet service
providers to remove all the overhead cables from the City before January
1, or else the Palike would disconnect them.
The Palike has
given temporary relief to the television cable operators who too will
have to make some alternative arrangements at the earliest.
