Theft trouble for plan to shift underground utilities
Even as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to undertake a mega project of shifting underground utilities from beneath roads to under the side strips in a concrete duct, a pilot project undertaken by the civic body on the arterial Mankhurd-Ghatkopar Link road earlier this year has ended in a disaster. Theft of utility wires from these ducts by locals has caused the civic body to consider redesigning cable channels the project. The ambitious plan was announced by BMC in November, when the annual roads budget was increased from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.
Chief engineer of the BMC’s road department RN Kulkarni said that the underground duct that has been built at the Mankhurd Link Road is similar casino online to a sewerage pipeline with manhole covers.
“Because of this, there are incidents when locals lift these manhole covers at night and steal wires by cutting out portions of it. Copper that is used for trunking these wires is an expensive scrap commodity fetching almost Rs 3,000 per kg. Because of this experience we have now approached the STAC to help us redesign the project in a way that incidents of theft can be avoided,” said Kulkarni
