The company started digging up the Marol Military road, which is being concretised, on Monday and the workers apparently did not have permission. Reliance Jio said the complaint was the fallout of a misunderstanding, which has now been sorted out.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Tuesday approached the police with a complaint against Reliance Jio for damaging a freshly laid road to lay its 4G cables in Marol in Andheri East, in a departure from its usual lenient stand on such issues.
The company started digging up the Marol Military road, which is being concretised, on Monday and the workers apparently did not have permission. Reliance Jio said the complaint was the fallout of a misunderstanding, which has now been sorted out.
Local corporator Pramod Sawant said this is a perfect example of why Mumbai continues to have bad roads despite spending crores of taxpayers' money every year. "When newly made roads are dug up again and again, they get damaged easily."
He added that the workers were carrying out the trenching work on the new road without any supervisor present on the spot. "When we asked them to show us the BMC permission, we found that they had none."
Bhagyashree Kapse, assistant municipal commissioner of K East ward, which handles civic issues of the area, said she didn't have first-hand information on the complaint as she was on leave. "I have heard about it and have instructed our ward office to inspect the matter. I have asked my staff to lodge a police complaint and penalise them."
An official from the ward confirmed that the agency didn't have the permissions to carry out the work to lay the cables on that particular road. "The road and is being concretised by the central agency. Even if the central agency had given the permission, it would have eventually come through us. We have filed a complaint with the MIDC police station."
BMC's chief engineer (roads), Ashok Pawar, said the ward will take necessary action.
MIDC police confirmed that they had received a complaint from the ward office. "We will investigate the matter first before registering an FIR," said senior inspector Rajaram Mandge.
"There is no FIR. We were not laying fiber, but repairing a damaged one. There was a complaint based on misunderstanding that has been sorted out, said a Reliance Jio office through an SMS.
Let people access trench-tracking software: Activist
Like the pothole-tracking software, the BMC too has a system to track trenches, though it is yet to be opened to the public. Stressing the need for letting the citizens use the software, Matunga-based civic activist Nikhil Desai said, "Potholes are present in localised areas, but trenches run for kilometres all together. In my area itself, nearly 25 roads have been dug up by Reliance Jio to lay 4G cables within a one kilometre radius. They have been given a free hand."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}