PANAJI
A day after the government slammed the brakes on its drastic action of cutting fiber optic and other cables unauthorisedly hanging on its poles which caused an internet outage hitting a wide range of operations, the Electricity Department has now diluted its stance on regulating or licencing these operations and will now await the outcome or directions coming from the case currently being heard by the Bombay High Court at Goa.
A top Electricity Department official said, whatever actions the department has taken so far are all “legally sound” but other factors like the largescale disruption caused has been taken into account to halt the action for now.
“Going forward we will wholly rely on the proceedings and interim directions coming from the honourable High Court,” the top official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Goan.
Meanwhile, affected Internet Service Providers (ISPs) whose services were disrupted by the Tuesday action of the Electricity Department, went on an overdrive trying to repair the damage.
Groups of workers were seen at several locations along the 18th June Road and other places replacing the cut cables.
On Tuesday, the sudden cutting of cables on a large scale had disrupted internet services not just in the capital but across the State affecting several businesses and even some hospitals and educational institutions.
It triggered a backlash and the department, reportedly on the express instructions of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, changed gear and by evening halted its cable-cutting operations.
Sawant meanwhile said on the sidelines of an event where his government signed an MoU with the Indian Hotels (Taj) group related to hospitality skill training, that the government will no longer resort to such action of cutting cables.
“A proper single-window system is being put in place to deal with it,” Sawant said while speaking to the media.
Sawant’s reference to a single window system apparently relates to a late night order of the Electricity Department appointing Shailesh Naik Burye, Superintending Engineer, (Commercial) office of the Chief Electrical Engineer, Panaji, and Rajiv Samant, Superintending Engineer, South Goa, Margao, as ‘nodal officers’ for the North and South Goa districts to handle all issues related to the third party use of all its infrastructure.
