Death hangs overhead on the highways

On March 23 MiD DAY had reported about a freak accident on the Western Express Highway WEH near Andheri Israr Khan 27 lost his life after an overhead cable across the road snapped and slit his throat while he was riding his bike Authorities have dismissed the incident as a oneoff But it has exposed the everpresent peril looming over commuters on the cityrsquos roads specially the Western and Eastern Express Highways Whatrsquos to stop wires dangling haphazardly over roads from snapping and claiming a life on the road againu00a0 So whorsquos answerable MiD DAY found out that cable operators frequently flout norms out of ignorance or recklessness and hook wires on the first support they stumble upon when in fact the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI has made it mandatory that they should all be laid underground As for the authorities they let the cables be because ldquothatrsquos how it has been and nobody has ever complainedrdquo u00a0Moreover the airspace in which the cable wires precariously hang doesnrsquot come under anyonersquos jurisdiction So itrsquos nobodyrsquos headache therersquos no one accountable for preventing the breach of regulation As per our ground investigations certain spots on the highways give easy access to cable operators keen to reach as many households in the suburbia On the Western Express Highway WEH at several stretches between Bandra and Dahisar and on the EEH between Sion and Thane wires are seen dangling for meters together right above our heads from street light posts buildings electric poles billboards even trees Webs of pendulous wires droop at several spots within city limits as well ldquoIt is mandatory for the cable operators to lay their cables below the road But they hang them from one building to another exploiting the airspace Under the circumstances we cannot do anything as the airspace doesnrsquot fall under our jurisdictionrdquo said an official from the public works department under whose jurisdiction fall both the EEH 23 km and WEH 25 km In 2011 there were over 25471 accidents on roads of which 563 people lost their lives Mumbai Traffic Policersquos records show that many accidents occurred at different spots on the highways namely at Vikhroli Bhandup Kanjurmarg Vile Parle and Kandivli u00a0 Easy way up Cable operators prefer overheadu00a0wires as laying them does not involve the longwinded and costly process of obtaining permissions from various BMC and other agenciesu00a0PicNimesh Dave Traffic officials claim that Israr Khanrsquos death case is a rarity but concur that cable wires are placed on top of streetlights for support illegally While power distribution companies in Mumbai claim their cables go underground as it is mandatory the same cannot be said of cable wires Cable operators prefer overhead wires as they are costeffective Their laying does not involve the tedious process of obtaining permissions as in the case of underground connectivity from at least 10 different agencies including BMC departments mdash road fire water supply and sewerage departments PWD power distribution companies like BEST RInfra Tata Power Mahanagar Gas Ltd and others In order to stop the wires from swaying they cover it with optical fibres or metal The costs escalate as the roads in the city arenrsquot straight but sinuous Roop Sharma president Cable Operators Federation of India said ldquoCable operators have no choice but to take the wires overhead because the BMC takes a long time to grant permissions to lay wires underground and the costs u00a0are exorbitant TRAI recommendation of lsquoright of wayrsquo should be implemented promptly so operators are granted permission at a nominal price to lay the cables underneath The move will also benefit consumers as they will be charged less for servicesrdquo A cable operator who relays from Juhu to Vile Parle said on the condition of anonymity ldquoOperators incur more expenses for installing wires underneath the ground as digging and miscellaneous costs considerably increase the installation expenses Installing overhead wires is much cheaper Also acquiring permission for overhead wires is easier as we need to obtain it from the buildings to which we anchor the wiresrdquo Some opine that overhead wires have been the norm since as far as they can remember and operators just continue with the arrangement A Mulundbased cable operator said ldquoMostly small cable operators prefer overhead wires as they are cheaper or almost free of cost If an operator chooses to install the wires underneath he would have to shell out around Rs 6080 per metre of wire per monthrdquo TRAI guidelines Right of Way Sep 14 lsquoO5 The cost of digital cable services per user can be substantially brought down in case service from a digital head end is supplied to a larger area through optical fibre cable network The right of way is not available to MSOscable operators as they are not licensed under Section 4 of the ITA In the absence of this right it may not be always possible for an MSOcable operator to lay their optical fibre network and may have to depend on telecom operators for lease of their optical fibre networku00a0