Knotty Web Affair of Illegal Cables Cause Series of Fire Incidents in Panbazar

GUWAHATI: No matter which road you are— be it in AT Road, MG Road, or Motilal Nehru Road in the Panbazar area —it is impossible to miss the cables dangling along the roadside poles dedicated to serving the residents and the commercial establishments.

Not only do they deface the city but also pose a threat to commuters, residence, and birds in several parts of the old City.

In such an instance of lack of clarity can be ruled, as in the method to be adopted by the private parties in question who is irresponsible enough to hook on to the government electricity poles one over the other- only to get maximum reach to their dear customers.

Be it the local cable television provider or the internet service providers in order to grab the market electrical snakes flow everywhere without thinking of safety norms.

Big shoutouts have been coming off late from the residence of Panbazar area wherein the residence of the Motilal Nehru Road has alleged that due to overlapping of private parties' wire (cable & internet) is resulting in sparks and fire.

Further residence alleged that in a matter of 4-5 months at least 4 times they have faced power cuts only due to sparks and fire caused by the unwanted wires.

"This is the 4th incident in the last 6 months, many electrical appliances of the neighborhood are affected by this, unfortunately, ASEB is yet to lodge an official inquiry into the incident. Locals believe the Fibre Net Connection wires or Cables used by various Broadband users stuck with Electric Poles or low-grade equipment used by ASEB are the major reason of this back to backfire incident in that Electric Pole," says a resident Tony Das.

"We have called the electricity department several times and they religiously fix it but this is a routine job nowadays," said a resident of Motilal Nehru Road, Debraj Borah.

Further, he added that the electricity department officials out of anger try to cut off the unruly cable wire, as for then, is the main reason for sparks and fire," he added.

Business owner of the age-old establishment, Triplex Drycleaners, Mukesh Achantani said, "As important is the internet these days so is the life of person and security of any house or shop, these cables wires hanging all around on electricity post are creating a big-time threat to all, we in Panbazar are facing these every now and then, in last three months we have seen three to four times a big fire on these post and there are buildings, transformers and shop all-around all under this threat of being on toes every time as it happens at any given point of time. The answer given every time by the people of electricity board is due to these cable wires on the pole. Any cable burnt has to be borne by the consumer, so again we are at loss due to fire any mishap, or even if the cable burns with no reason of your own, you have to pay to get the line rectified. I would request the authorities to kindly look into the matter as these incidents can become a bigger one anytime and then it will be too late to act."

In one such incident which occurred recently 

However, customer satisfaction comes into the picture and the cables and wires hang head high to test the unforeseen event of fire again.

Notably, if witnessed in Guwahati, the wires and cables are mostly found at the intersections and on the main roads tied from one electric pole to another or one tree to another. These wires and cables are tied temporarily and can fall down easily. They are hanging precariously such that they are causing fire incidents in a series of events.

The cry for the menace doesn't end here as with this the power supply also takes off, leaving people without power supply in these scorching summer days.

Rajnish Deb, the owner of Guwahati Dairy, said, "We've lodged many complaints, but everything has gone in vain. These wires are meant for either internet or a cable connection. While leaving wires and cables openly and hanging is illegal, however, these wires could be removed only by electric board and participation of residents."

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