Vasavinagar protests Jio poles in their colony
Residents of Vasavinagar and Kharkhana in the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) have complained that Reliance Jio is installing poles in their area without the permission of the colony association.
The poles are being installed by the company to lay optical fibre cables. A total of 1,172 ninemetre-tall poles are being installed.
Mr Telukunta Satish Gupta, president of the Vasavinagar Welfare Association, said “Last time when other network companies installed poles for their optical fibre cables, our drainages got damaged. Neither the company nor the SCB took care of it for a long time. How can we allow it this time?”
Work has been halted, and residents said they will not allow it to commence till they get an assurance that the colony won’t be affected.
Reliance officials claimed that they had got permission from the state government and the Cantonment Board to install poles. Colony associations are demanding that the company should take their permission, as they are the ones answerable to residents if there is any damage done to infrastructure.
According to the permission letter with the SCB, Reliance Jio is already paying a security deposit to the board, which is twice the amount of annual rent that it pays for each electric pole.
When the situation was explained to ward board member, B. Anita, she said, “Though the board has given permission, residents can still fight for their rights. Sometimes, these companies do their work and leave after damaging pipelines. This has happened earlier also.”
The Vasavinagar Colony Association is demanding a written assurance along with a refundable security deposit. But Reliance Jio is not ready for this as it has paid a security deposit to the SCB and has secured permission.