PMC cuts broadband connection of its own head office

In a drive against illegal overhead wires, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has cut about 300 km of cables dangling from streetlight poles and trees across the city. However, the officials erroneously snapped the broadband wire of BSNL's 2 MB network lease line that connects the PMC headquarters to all the 14 ward offices, hospitals, water purification centres, pumping stations, fire brigade, crematoriums, Sawarkar Bhavan and other important departments across the city.

The goof-up has hampered telecom and Internet communication within the civic body's several departments for the past eight days. "The BSNL's network facilitates free intercom facility and IP service to transfer data, voice, video etc.

This service saves PMC around Rs 60,000 a month, as one can make free calls, video messages and share data through it. Due to the blunder, this entire system has collapsed, and employees are currently using their personal Internet dongles to do their work," said a senior PMC official, requesting anonymity.

He added, "Though the basic email and other Internet facilities are working fine, the intercom facility has received a major setback. There's no connectivity between the main building and water purification, distribution offices etc."u00a0

Since the past one month, the PMC's anti-encroachment department has been removing and confiscating illegal overhead wires. Till date, the department has removed over 300 km of overhead cable put up by major telecom companies.

"Actually BSNL follows the rules, and most of its broadband and telecom wires are underground. However, due to road-digging work carried out at several areas, the BSNL employees had put up the wires on electric polls, and those were cut by the PMC.

We have informed the top bosses about it," he said.u00a0Rahul Jagtap, head of PMC's IT department, too confirmed the action has affected connectivity between civic body's offices. "There are some problems, but our day-to-day work hasn't suffered. Our department has not received any complaint from the employees. Actually, the Internet connection is an alternate wireless arrangement, and all ward offices have backup lines too," Jagtap said.

Making the cut
Last Saturday, the civic officials removed 186 km of illegal overhead cables across all the wards.

300 km Illegal overhead wires cut by the civic body across the city

Rs 60,000 Amount that the PMC saves every month by using broadband-based intercom facilityu00a0