CORTALIM
About 300 telephone lines at Sancoale under Cortalim telephone exchange are reportedly not functioning since Sunday evening, after a telephone cable got burnt in a fire.
According to sources, the incident occurred when the cleaning work around the Cortalim church premises was in progress.
“Some people dumped dry leaves near the telephone cable and set it on fire, damaging the cable,” a local resident told The Goan.
Admitting that the cable had been burnt, assistant lineman Ram Naik of Cortalim telephone exchange said at least 1100 pairs (wires) had been burnt. “It will taken at least three more days to restore the phones,” Naik informed.
According to Sub Divisional Engineer Theodore Silva of Verna telephone exchange, the work on restoring the phone lines will start from Thursday.
“We had to break the concrete walls of the gutters. At least four cables have been damaged. All cannot be taken up at one time to restore the lines. They will be taken up gradually,” Silva said.
