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Digging for storm drains leaves 700 BSNL connections dead in Ludhiana
Phone, internet connections near Rani Jhansi Road affected as contractor for Smart City project damages cables
Digging for a storm sewerage project at Rani Jhansi Road has left nearly 700 phone and internet connections, including the police emergency helpline, dead.
BSNL officials found underground cables in the area damaged after complaints about the police helpline number (112) not working.
“We received information about the helpline not working on Saturday morning. On reaching Rani Jhansi Road to inspect the matter, we found the cables uprooted. We immediately diverted the calls to the helpline and started the repair work,” said BSNL SDO Kanwaljit Singh Shanker, adding that all connections should be restored by Sunday evening.
“The contractor with the civic body had sought permission to carry out digging along the road for the Smart City project, but was also illegally digging the stretch diagonally, damaging underground cables,” said Shanker.
Notably, three such incidents have taken in place in the past one month, with cables also being damaged near Aarti Cinema Chowk and Malhar Road due to civic body projects.
MC’s superintending engineer (SE) Rahul Gagneja said SE Ravinder Garg was in-charge of these issues, but the latter was not immediately available despite repeated attempts.
Local councillor Narinder Sharma Kala said he had told the contractor to find out why the cables were uprooted.
