Srinagar, Aug 16: Despite a three tier security on Independence Day, burglars decamped with  telephone cables from the heart of the City leaving landline connections dead at the government’s top seat –the Civil Secretariat and adjoining areas like Magarmal Bagh and Hari Singh High Street.
 This is the second incident in the less than a week when the costly telecom cables have been stolen from the same spot while the police is groping for clues.
 The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) officials said the telephone connectivity was snapped at around 5 PM when all of a sudden all the landlines in the area went dead.
 They said three telephone cables of around 1700 pairs were stolen from near the Budshah Bridge.
 A senior official in the BNSL said it was the second theft of cable from the same place after the earlier strike on August 9.
 “That day,” he said “some three hundred connections were rendered dead.”
 “Written intimation regarding the same has been sent to concerned Police Station, both the times,” he added.
 The BSNL officials said the theft of telephone cables had become a reoccurring problem in the City.
 The costly cables are believed to have been stolen for the copper wires inside.
 “Telecom cables are made of pure copper. And once the outer cover is burnt, you get a pure copper cable worth thousands of rupees in markets,” admitted a police official.
 Meanwhile telecom connectivity at the Civil Secretariat as per sources affected the routine work as sending and receiving  of fax messages couldn’t mature in the absence of landline connections.
 While the subscribers including those trying to communicate with the Civil Secretariat had a tough day Tuesday, eyebrows are being raised over the security arrangements in place in the City.
“How come did the burglars manage to decamp with telephone cables when there was an high alert in the City and all roads leading to Lal Chowk were sealed…This is ridiculous,” argued a senior official working at Old Secretariat which was  equally hit by the burglar’s strike on the landline connectivity front.
When contacted Superintendent of Police South City said: “It might have happened across the (Budshah) bridge which  is not in my jurisdiction. I will have to check it out.”
Interestingly the SP Kothibagh whose jurisdiction falls on the other side too echoed similar reply. “It might have happened across the (Budshah) bridge which is not in my jurisdiction. I will have to check it out.”

Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST