Team Herald
PANJIM: The government on Thursday directed the Electricity Department to ensure that cutting, dismantling or disconnecting of cables providing internet services or television cable services was kept in abeyance till further orders.
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The order can be seen as a rejection of the activism of department employee Kashinath Shetye, who had led a team on a cable-cutting spree in end February, sparking an internet blackout across Goa and leaving important institutions like banks and hospitals crippled.
Shetye had said of his drive: “I will not succumb to pressure from anyone. Either the cables have to go, or Kashinath has to go.”
This is not the first time that the government has clipped the Electricity Department Executive Engineer’s wings, as the Department had appointed two nodal officers for North and South Goa to replace Shetye right after the cable-cutting fiasco.
Reacting to Thursday’s government directive, Shetye said, “I being a government servant will have to follow the order. I am not in a position to speak against the order. The government has issued an order not to cut the cables. I will file an affidavit in the matter in which I have been made the party and I will mention that we are yet to receive Rs 110 crore due to us. Now, even if the pole is fully damaged, we are not allowed to touch the pole. But they (the cable operators and internet service providers) on the other hand are being allowed to touch and reinstall their cables on our poles. You can ask the competent authorities who have taken this decision as to why this is being allowed.”
Following the government order, Chief Electrical Engineer (CEE) Stephen Fernandes spoke to media person.
Fernandes said, “It is a sensitive issue. There are several cables from various internet service providers and cable operators. Someone has made a mistake in the past and has allowed them to tie cables to the electric poles.”
He said, “With so many cables, we cannot take them out abruptly. We were trying to cut the cables due to safety, legal and financial issues. But when it was being done, students were answering the examinations and were at the receiving end. Most businesses are dependent on the internet and if services are disrupted then it will cause harm to the economy. How can we cut the cables even if there is a safety issue?”
Admitting that the department too was at fault, he said, “If it was to be cut, then it should have been done at the beginning. We do not know when the service providers came in. If asked, they will always say that they came recently. How can the Electricity Department tell them that they are in the business for the last 10 or 20 years?”
Speaking on the department’s revenue front, Fernandes said, “First of all, we will have to discuss and decide on how much the service providers can be charged. Our nodal officer has made some calculations, but we have got some representations from several cable operators, who claim that the calculations are wrong. So there is conflict and this has to be resolved. The department lacks data based on which the service providers can be charged.”
