Snapped cables left dangling from posts due to lack of manpower

Kolkata: Cables pulled down from lampposts as part of a drive to remove dead and messy wires across the city have been dangling dangerously on pavements in some pockets of central Kolkata. On Friday, several such snapped wires were left hanging along S N Banerjee Road, less than 100 metres from Kolkata Municipal Corporation headquarters.
Initiated last week by cable operators, internet service providers, multi-system operators and telecom companies, the drive is being carried out simultaneously across Kolkata.“Unfortunately, some of the cables could not be removed and have been left hanging. Since we have limited manpower for the job, it may take a few days to get all the dangling wires removed,” said All Bengal Cable TV and Broadband Operators’ United Forum convenor Tapash Das. It is the Forum which is leading the drive on behalf of cable operators.
So far, 15-20 km of dead wires have been removed. The drive aims to pull down at least 150km of defunct wires. But it may take time as it is difficult to identify and remove cables in some stretches, said Das.
“Even though most dead cables have been tagged, it is taking time to identify them. Earlier this week, some traffic signal wires had been wrongly snapped. We don’t want to repeat such mistakes,” added Das.
Important stretches in south Kolkata that will benefit from the drive are Sarat Bose Road-Ramesh Mitra Road, Hazra Road-Elgin Road, Hazra Road-Ramesh Mitra Road and Southern Avenue-Sarat Bose Road intersection to Exide crossing, via Minto Park. In north Kolkata, it will be Galiff Street to Exide crossing, along Chittaranjan Avenue and Esplanade, Khanna cinema to Sovabazar and Vivekananda Road to Chittaranjan Avenue stretches.