The Hindu 20.12.2013
Unauthorised OFCs must be declared by tomorrow
Telecom service providers have been given time till
Saturday to declare optical fibre cables (OFCs) laid without
authorisation across the city. If they fail to do so, the Bruhat
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will take ownership of these cables
and either disconnect them or auction them, said N.R. Ramesh, OFC
committee member and Yediyur councillor.
Undeclared
overhead cables of the various Internet service providers would be
disconnected after January 1, as per instructions of the BBMP
Commissioner, he added.
The councillor told
presspersons here on Thursday that the committee had found that of the
65,000 km of cables laid in the city, only around 7,500 km were
authorised. BBMP has dug pits in 771 places across the city to verify
the extent of violations in laying OFCs, he said.
Fee agreement
After
a series of meetings with chief executive officers of 31 service
providers, including 17 telecom service providers, the BBMP and the
companies agreed to fixing the right of way fee to lay cables at Rs. 850
a metre. Unauthorised cables that have already been laid may be
regularised by paying penalty of Rs. 600 a metre along with the Rs. 850 a
metre fee, Mr. Ramesh said.
The
BBMP would soon sign a memorandum of understanding regarding the payment
of right of way fees. “This is likely to bring in at least Rs. 400
crore revenue to the BBMP in the next three or four months,” he claimed.
Digging up roads
According
to Mr. Ramesh, road cutting permissions have now been made transparent,
with the entire process being computerised. Service providers have to
apply online and make payments via online bank transfer. As many as 33
banks have been roped in.
“The software [developed
for the process] is GIS enabled and permissions will be given only after
the spots are inspected by engineers. The companies will have to
restore the road after the cables are laid,” he said.
He
added that permission would not be granted if the road had been
asphalted less than a year ago. The same criterion would apply to other
civic agencies that need to dig up roads, including Bangalore Water
Supply and Sewerage Board and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, and
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. “We may grant them some concession as these
agencies provide essential services,” he said.