Srinagar, May 31: Around 2000 landlines in Hyderpora-Bagh-e-Mehtab belt of south City are dead for the past three days because of major cable snaps during ongoing drainage construction along the bypass.
 While the telephone subscribers are facing inconvenience, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)  officials said the restoration would take around a week due to waterlogging in the area.
 Around 1300 connection in the Hyderpora suburb and 600 odd in Bagh-e-Mehtab have been affected.
 The BSNL officials accused the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), which is executing the drainage project, of negligence in digging, which lead to the cable snaps.
 Sources said even though the BSNL had apprised the ERA to be cautious while digging the trenches(around 20 feet deep), the contractors allegedly acted negligently.
 “The contractor had been informed to carry out the digging cautiously, but the JCB driver was replaced with man who didn’t know about the parameters and got the entire bulk of lines snapped,” said a source adding that the work was done overnight.
 This is not the first time that the ERA has been accused of cable snap in the south City belt for “improper digging” of the roads.  Earlier also, many a time, the telephone cables were snapped during the drainage work.
 Besides, the ERA has already missed several deadlines to complete the project, which has put thousands of households to inconvenience.
 The BSNL had sought coordination in the drainage work. “But our pleas always fell to deaf ears,” said a BSNL official posted in the area adding that several FIR’s have been registered against the accused agency.
 But quick public respite of telephone connectivity resumption, this time seems bleak.
 “There is a lot waterlogging in the affected areas and unless the water level recedes we won’t be able to make repairs,” the official said while pointing towards pools of water.
 Meanwhile, it was the third day of dis-connectivity for the affected subscribers.
 “The only means of communication with my children back home during daytime is landline telephone. But with the lines being dead, we remain concerned of our children when we go out for work,” said a business man of Hyderpora area.
 The subscribers have appealed the MoS Housing and Urban Development department and local MLA Nasir Sogami to look into the matter.
 Despite repeated attempts the ERA officials couldn’t be contacted for comment.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 31 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 31 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST