BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao has instructed officials to immediately remove unauthorised optical fiber cables (OFCs), especially those hanging along footpaths, in the city’s east zone.
After conducting an inspection from Guttahalli flyover to the Cantonment area, covering 2.5 km, on Thursday, the official pointed out that ducting systems have already been provided in TenderSure and white-topped roads across the city for laying underground cables.
Despite this, certain service providers have laid cables along roads, footpaths, on electric poles and even on trees, causing inconvenience to the public. He emphasised that strict action should be taken if OFCs are laid where ducts are already available.
During the inspection, he noted that several BBMP-owned vacant plots remain unused and are unhygienic, and instructed officials to identify such areas and make them available for public use.
Expressing concern over the poor condition of spaces around roadside transformers, the commissioner directed that fencing should be installed around them and BESCOM should maintain them.
Noticing the lack of pedestrian walkways along Palace Road, 12th Main Road in Vasanthnagar and near the Cantonment railway track, he sought a detailed review to identify locations requiring new footpaths or expansions and to undertake construction accordingly.
He also instructed officials that unauthorised advertisement boards put up by private institutions and educational establishments should be removed and penalties imposed on the violators. Rao also visited the Indira Canteen on Miller’s Road and checked the food quality. He found the taste satisfactory and instructed the staff to maintain both food quality and hygiene standards.