Greater Chennai Corporation Collects Rs 19 Crore Fine From Companies For Illegal OFCs

Greater Chennai Corporation is facing challenges in its efforts to penalize internet and telecom companies for illegal overhead optic fibre cables (OFC) found hanging on poles and trees.

Senior officials said the corporation has raised penalty bills of Rs 74.61 crore for illegal cables, but companies have paid only Rs 19.49 crore so far. The balance is yet to be collected. Corporation officials said these companies accept the bills but they don’t respond to repeated requests to pay up. “We are facing difficulties in collecting the money,” said an official.

Official data showed that as on Tuesday, 27 companies obtained permission for only 5,167 km of cables from the civic body. However, an extra 9,109 km of illegal cables have been laid by them.

According to data, ACT and Jio Digital Fibre Pvt Ltd alone account for around 4,000 km of illegal cables. While the latter has paid its penalty charges of around Rs 14 crore, ACT has not paid a single rupee yet, showed data.

Public sector companies such as BSNL and TN Arasu cable have also put up 168.78 km and 185 km of illegal cables. Both have not paid any amount towards their penalty of around Rs 1 crore each.―Times of India