Meghalaya: MeECL warns against hanging loose optical fibre cables on electric poles in Shillong

In what can be seen as an open defiance against Meghalaya government order banning the use of electricity poles to string up fibre optic cables without permission, loose optical fibre cables hanging on the electric poles are a common sight in the Shillong and other towns.

Following this, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL), Sanjay Goyal has cautioned the erring companies of strict actions if they fail to comply by the rules.

Goyal said, “Loose optical fibre cables hanging on the electric poles, are becoming a nuisance for us, as well as for the general public. We have already issued a public notice to the telecom and internet service providers who installed these cables, requesting to remove them as they may cause an accident.”

Noting the risk the OFCs pose on human lives, Goyal directed the service providers to remove the cables immediately or the department will be compelled to cut it down.

“These are not MeECL’s wires, some other people are taking facilities of our electric poles. This is illegal, and we can take actions against it and remove all those wires, but it will cause some inconvenience to those who are taking services through those service providers. However, if they do not remove those wires soon, we will have to take action even at the cost of some inconvenience to the publc,” said Goyal.

Notably, the use of electricity poles as support for the OFCs has been done without due permission from the inspectorate, which is in contravention of the Central Electricity Authority Regulations 2010.