Salt Lake: All overhead cables tied to lamp posts, trees and hoardings in Salt Lake will go underground, if the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation manages to implement its plan.

The civic body has decided to construct an underground conduit system using micro tunnelling to take the wires underground.

"The decision was taken at the last board meeting. We will start shifting the cables underground soon," said Sabyasachi Dutta, the mayor of the corporation.

Urban development minister Firhad Hakim announced a few days ago that the state government would build dedicated roadside conduits in municipal areas under the Green City Mission.

Salt Lake has a maze of overhead cables - strung to lamp posts, trees lining median dividers and even wrapped around park benches. Metro had earlier highlighted the dangers that cable and broadband wires pose to pedestrians and motorists besides being an eyesore.

On January 1, a youth riding a motorbike died after his two-wheeler was entangled in a heap of cables on the east-bound flank of the Park Circus bridge.

Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation officials met cable operators and broadband service providers at Poura Bhavan, the Salt Lake civic headquarters, recently. The operators were informed about the civic body's decision to take the cables underground, an official who attended the meeting said.

"The civic body will bear the cost of constructing the underground network. However, the operators will have to pay a small fee every month as rent for its upkeep," the official said.

The underground duct will have maintenance hatches at regular intervals to allow easy repair, the official said.

The corporation has also sought suggestions from cable operators to ensure smooth and seamless transfer of wires.

The work will be carried out in phases.