The Karachi commissioner has warned K-Electric (KE) to refrain from removing wires of cable operators in the city, else FIRs can be lodged against them, according to Cable Operators Association Chairman Khalid Arian.
Arian said on Tuesday it had been mutually decided with KE officials in a meeting that the cable operators would remove wires from KE poles themselves at a suitable time. He said that if the power utility resorted to cutting off their wires, they would file FIRs against them.
Karachi Commissioner Muhammad Iqbal Memon formed a committee after the meeting to resolve issues between cable operators and the KE. The committee will operate at the district level and comprise representatives of the district administration, police, KE, cable operators and telecom companies.
During the meeting with the commissioner, Arian and other cable operators informed him of their issues. They lamented how their wires were disconnected and removed from poles throughout the city by the power utility.
According to the cable operators, their wires are taken off poles, due to which they face heavy monetary losses. Arian told the commissioner how the KE and cable operators came to an agreement at the commissioner’s office. “We want the KE to comply with the mutually agreed things,” he said, adding that everywhere in the country cable operators used electric poles for their cables, but why then only the KE had problem with that.
According to a press statement issued by the commissioner office on Tuesday, the committee will formulate a plan for bunching together cables and fix a time frame for its implementation. The shortcomings and hurdles would be pointed out and discussed in the committee and appropriate action would be taken to remove the shortcomings, it added.
The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by the commissioner at his office. The meeting was attended by KE, cable operators and telecom companies’ representatives.
Khalid Arain, Ghufran Mujtaba, Saeed Shah and Kamran Zehri represented the cable operators, while on part of the KE, Harris Siddiqui, director government affairs, Munir Ahmed Sheikh, assistant director, and Sarmad Shah, manager, attended the meeting. District East Deputy Commissioner Asif Jan Siddiqui, Malir DC Ghanwar Khan Leghari, South DC Irshad Ali Sodher, Koarngi DC Saleemullah Odho, DIG South Sharjeel Kharal and representatives of the KMC, the cantonment board and telecom companies were also present in the meeting.
The commissioner said common citizens were being affected, as the internet service was suspended when cable wires were removed from electricity poles. He added that daily-life routines had mostly been shifted online since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, and education, office work, business and trade activities were performed online now.
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