Much to the annoyance of residents, telecom companies have again begun to dig city roads to lay new communication cables as the Roads and Building (R&B) Department fails to create permanent underground utility ducts to prevent frequent destruction of roads.
As roads are already in a dilapidated condition for want of blacktopping and repair, the digging carried out by telecom companies make them unsuitable for travel and gives an ugly look to the city.
Many residents say that at times it seems the “government is preparing the city for war and digging trenches to fight enemy”.
In other cities the companies are using modern technology to lay cables without digging the roads. The civic officials here have grossly failed to insist the companies to utilise such technologies to save the road infrastructure.
“It’s frustrating at times to see well-laid roads being destroyed by using JCBs and labourers. We feel helpless as there is no policy to stop the repeated digging,” said Rohit Sharma, a resident.
The irony is that the companies are not repairing the roads after laying cables resulting in roads remaining dug up for several months. Residents allege that the construction agencies leave the roads dug up for several months, putting them to great inconvenience. These roads also become a cause for accidents.
“There is some inherent problem in our system which does not want to see clear roads. They are happy in first constructing these and then destroying them. There is no urban planning,” said Amrita Sharma, a university student, while pointing towards condition of roads at Janipur.
Accepting that underground ducts are a necessity, R&B Department Chief Engineer Alok Mengi said, “We have submitted a proposal and hopefully funds will be released in the coming months. However, we cannot stop telecom companies from laying cables by digging roads as it would hinder internet and mobile telephony.”
One will not find a place in the city where the digging work is not going on. This results in traffic jams, besides causing a lot of problems for pedestrians, who walk through the area. Problem is more during the evening hours.
