Internet cables hanging on power poles will be phased out by making an action plan, says MCC commissioner

Mayor Sudhir Shetty Kannur at the Mangaluru City Corporation council meeting on Saturday. | Photo: HS MANJUNATH

Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner CL Anand said on Saturday that the civic body will remove bundles of television and internet cables hanging from electricity poles in the city in a phased manner, making an action plan.

The commissioner was responding to councilors’ demands at the monthly meeting for their removal. Councillors, across party lines, said people’s lives were at risk as such overloaded poles could fall at any moment, snapping power lines.

Mr. Anand said that internet providers and cable operators would be required to move their cables to ducts on such roads where ducts have been constructed.

Raising the issue of electrocution of two autorickshaw drivers near Rosario School, Pandeshwar in the city on June 26, the councilors demanded that private internet providers and cable operators lay their cables underground.

Councilors Abdul Latheef, Abdul Rauf, Naveen R. D’Souza and AC Vinayraj, former mayors Diwakar, M. Shashidhar Hegde and Premananda Shetty and Leader of the Opposition T. Praveenchandra Alva spoke on the danger.

Mayor Sudhir Shetty Kannur said the internet supply cables hanging between electricity poles also posed a threat to the lives of many two-wheeler drivers. He asked the corporation officials to remove private pylons erected by ISPs and cable operators in such areas where Mescom has removed its electricity pylons after the company laid underground power supply lines.

A Mescom official told the meeting that the company had, in the past two years, allowed private internet providers to use its power poles to run their cables only after producing a no-objection certificate issued by the corporation. the city. The official said that the company has removed such cables from its poles, while some internet providers have been issued with the final notice to remove their cables.

Mr. Alva asked why the private players have not been made to remove their hanging cables on the Pumpwell-Padil road, even though utility channels have been constructed on the road that was constructed recently.

Mr. Vinayraj asked the mayor to issue a week’s notice to private internet providers to register with the civic body giving details of their network and area or remove their cables laid without the corporation’s permission. This will make them approach the corporation. After that, the civic body will also have a data with it.