BMP to fine Spice, Bharti

BMP to fine Spice, Bharti

Deccan Herald

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) may slap a hefty fine on two leading telecom companies — Spice Telecom and Bharti Infotech — for allegedly digging up City roads and footpaths without permission.

After assessing the extent of damage done by these companies to roads and footpaths in the Shantinagar and Gandhinagar areas recently, the BMP engineering department has proposed to impose a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh on Spice Telecom and Rs 1.96 lakh on Bharti Infotech.

A preliminary survey by the BMP on the damage has revealed that Spice Telecom has dug up over 300 metres of roads in Gandhinagar, while Bharti Infotech has dug 150 metres in the Shantinagar area. “The two companies have dug up roads during the night without permission. In both the areas roads and footpaths were laid only recently spending a huge amount of money,” official sources said.

The companies have dug up the roads, despite the BMP banning the open trench system of laying cables in the City. “Digging roads and footpaths to lay cables was banned long back. OFCs should follow the trench-less technology to lay cables,” officials added.

“We have already issued notices to both companies and seized all materials used by them, including cables and digging materials. Besides, a police complaint has also been lodged against them.”