Kochi City Corporation gives conditional nod to Reliance Jio for laying optical fibre cable

Though the company’s proposal had come up at the last council meeting, both the ruling and Opposition councillors protested against the move to approve it without much discussion.
Reliance Jio. (File photo | Reuters)
Reliance Jio. (File photo | Reuters)

KOCHI: Putting an end to the uncertainty that prevailed over for two years, the Corporation on Saturday has given ‘conditional permission’ to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) for digging up roads for laying optical fibre cable(OFC) and drawing overhead lines. 

Though the company’s proposal had come up at the last council meeting, both the ruling and Opposition councillors protested against the move to approve it without much discussion. It was following this the council defer the issue to Saturday.

As per the council decision, the company has to first clear the pending service dues to the civic body. 
“The Corporation should have complete control over the digging up of roads. The councillors should get clear information about the areas where the company got the permission to dig up the road. During the 2014-15 fiscal , they caused a financial loss of Rs 1.5 crore to the Corporation by digging up the roads. This is clearly mentioned in the audit report. This should be discussed before permission is granted. Fine should be collected from the company for having dug up roads illegally,”  V P Chandran said in the council.

The council said all the mandatory clearances from agencies like KSEB, KWA and BSNL have to be secured before starting works. 

The schedule of work has to be submitted to the civic authorities and councillors concerned in advance. It has also been stipulated that road restoration has to be done at the earliest.

The ruling councillors also came down against the company. V K Minimol, Health, Standing Committee, chairperson said the state government and the Centre are supporting the company. Deputy Mayor T J Vinodh said the favour being shown to Reliance should also be extended to the state-run BSNL as well as the other companies. 

Replying to the council, Mayor Soumini Jain said the company should pay the fine imposed by the civic body for illegal road cutting. 

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