Chennai: When a truck turns into a narrow street in Tambaram and its top catches a low-hanging cable, the wire is dragged along, a GI pole bends, and the tangled network becomes more deadly. Despite repeated assurances that electric lines will be shifted underground, the streets remain cluttered with hanging wires, bent poles, and cables lying on roads, raising safety concerns for motorists and pedestrians.While the ₹200 crore underground cable project, started three years ago, has covered a major portion of the planned 1,332 km, nearly 270 km is pending. Meanwhile, residents say the overhead network has become increasingly chaotic, with internet and cable TV operators erecting GI pipe poles and stringing cables across lanes.The problem has become a menace in Zamin Pallavaram, Chromepet, Perungalathur and Camp Road. Residents said that every time a new internet connection is provided to a house or apartment, a cable is drawn from the nearest pole, while the unused length is often left dangling.With Tambaram corporation comprising five zones and 70 wards, residents said several thousand GI poles carrying cables could be spread across its limits. Under the Tamil Nadu Municipalities Television Cables Installation Regulation Rules, 2000, operators must submit the proposed cable route and the number of poles needed before obtaining permission. The rules also prescribe a minimum height of 8m for cables crossing roads and 5.5m for cables running along them, while limiting the number of lines on a streetlight pole to five. However, most of the poles in Tambaram exceed this limit.David Manohar, an activist from Pallavaram, said, “Corporation does not have data on how many internet poles or the cable length that have been approved; this leaves a gap wherein whoever wants an internet connection can contact the operator and erect a pole. Heavy vehicles entering streets for construction and water supply often damage the cables, but despite complaints, no action is taken.”T Kumar, a resident of Indira Nagar, said, “During monsoon every year, the electric poles either fall when there is heavy wind or get damaged when a tree falls on the pole. Corporation and TNPDCL officials should shift the cables underground at the earliest. Last monsoon, our neighbour’s car got badly damaged when a pole fell on it.”TNPDCL officials said overhead cables in many areas had been shifted underground and the remaining work is being fast-tracked.Tambaram corporation commissioner S Balachander said, “The officials have been instructed to conduct a survey on illegal internet poles raised by operators; violators will be fined once the survey is done.”
