Overhead cables along five city roads to be shifted underground

Overhead Internet and television cables have been removed from a stretch of Harish Mukherjee Road four years after the Kolkata Municipal Corporation first spoke of the possibility of taking the wires underground.

On Monday, the KMC decided to replicate what has been done on Harish Mukherjee Road along five other city roads.

The civic body has built ducts under the road for cables.

The cables that used to run overhead earlier are now being taken through the ducts. The KMC had chosen Harish Mukherjee Road for a pilot project to see if it was possible to shift overhead cables underground.

“We will pick five more roads where we will make underground ducts and the overhead cables will be taken underground. The operators will then pay a fee for using the ducts,” said Sandip Ranjan Bakshi, the mayoral council member in charge of lighting department of the KMC.

Bakshi has been involved in the KMC’s talks with multi-system operators (MSO) and Internet service providers (ISP).

The KMC spent Rs 48 lakh to build the ducts along the 2.2km-long Harish Mukherjee Road. The ducts were completed around Durga Puja last year.

The Telegraph had reported in November that even though the ducts were ready, the cables still dangled overhead.

It was only recently that the cables were removed between Gurdwara Sant Kutiya, at the intersection of Elgin Road and Harish Mukherjee Road, and Jai Hind community hall, at the intersection of Harish Mukherjee Road and Kalighat Road.

“It is late but a start at least. A walk down Harish Mukherjee Road now looks more pleasing than before,” said an engineer of the KMC, who was involved with the project.

The engineer said that the cables had been removed from about two-thirds of the length of Harish Mukherjee Road.

“The eastern flank between Jai Hind Bhavan and Kalighat fire station still has some cables to be removed. The stretch between Rabindra Sadan and Gurdwara also has some cables still hanging,” said the engineer.

When The Telegraph visited Harish Mukherjee Road last week, the space above the pavement looked cleaner, though there were cables tied around many houses. Harish Mukherjee Road has some old houses that look majestic. The removal of the cables now gives an unhindered view of these buildings.

The KMC engineer said only one type of cable still hangs over the entire length of the road. These belong to closed-circuit TV cameras installed by police.

An officer of the Kolkata police said CCTV cables ran overhead across Kolkata. “Taking the cables underground will require digging the roads. Permissions to dig a busy road or near an intersection are difficult to get,” said he said.

Fee: The KMC has decided to charge the MSOs and ISPs for using the underground ducts. “The larger ones will have to pay Rs 100 per metre per duct. Those with smaller businesses or local cable operators will have to pay Rs 25 per metre per duct,” said Bakshi.