Theft trouble for plan to shift underground utilities

Even as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is planning to undertake a mega project of shifting underground utilities from beneath roads to under the side strips in a concrete duct.

Even as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to undertake a mega project of shifting underground utilities from beneath roads to under the side strips in a concrete duct,a pilot project undertaken by the civic body on the arterial Mankhurd-Ghatkopar Link road earlier this year has ended in a disaster. Theft of utility wires from these ducts by locals has caused the civic body to consider redesigning the project. The ambitious plan was announced by BMC in November,when the annual roads budget was increased from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.

Chief engineer of the BMCs road department RN Kulkarni said that the underground duct that has been built at the Mankhurd Link Road is similar to a sewerage pipeline with manhole covers.

Because of this,there are incidents when locals lift these manhole covers at night and steal wires by cutting out portions of it. Copper that is used for these wires is an expensive scrap commodity fetching almost Rs 3,000 per kg. Because of this experience we have now approached the STAC to help us redesign the project in a way that incidents of theft can be avoided, said Kulkarni.

In a bid to prevent frequent digging up of roads by agencies that have underground utilities such as telephone,gas etc.,the BMC announced the project of shifting all existing dry utilities that run beneath the main road to below the side strip of the road. Roads are frequently dug up by telephone and mobile network agencies,gas agencies etc for new construction and maintenance of these services and often do not restore the road after the work is done.

In a recent meeting between road officials and members from the Statutory Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) seeking the committees suggestions and guidance on the same,the members had pointed out to officials that about 12 roads in the city already have the underground ducts. In the case of three of these roads – the Mankhurd link road,VN Purav Road in Deonar,and Senapati Bapat Road – some utilities had already been shifted.

The new design will most probably include laying the ducts deeper in the ground so that incidents of thefts can be avoided. The STAC will advice us and we will soon prepare a draft plan on how to go about it, said Kulkarni.

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