Team Herald
PANJIM: The Electricity Department has issued demand notices to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and cable operators, requiring them to pay a hefty sum of Rs 12.60 crore in penalties and infrastructure usage charges.
The department issued show cause notices to five ISPs and cable operators, ordering them to pay the penalty over and above their regular rental charges for using electricity poles to string cables. The notices also state that the operators must pay compensation for the unlawful installation of cables without the necessary permissions or clearances.
According to the department, the operators were informed that their applications for permission to string fibre cables on electricity poles had been rejected, as they had already installed the cables without obtaining a proper licence or No Objection Certificate (NOC). The operators have been given 15 days to respond to the demand.
This move follows the department's previous deadlines for the removal of the cables, with the most recent one being on February 3. The department had given the ISPs and cable operators 10 days to remove the unauthorised cables, but despite these repeated requests, the cables remained in place, prompting the imposition of penalties.
The Nodal Officer for Land Acquisition and Property Management, operating under the provisions of Section 18 of the Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024, had also put service providers on notice, instructing them to remove all illegal cables and infrastructure from electricity poles and other electricity "furniture" within 10 days of the notice.
Despite these clear instructions, the Electricity Department stated that they had not received a single application for permission to install cables, further complicating the situation. The department has now initiated the process of recovering outstanding rents and penalties from the service providers.