S Kol TV screens go blank after cable snag

Kolkata: Cable TV services were disrupted across a large area in south Kolkata on Sunday following a fire at Dhakuria. Screens went blank in hundreds of cable homes between Kasba and Dhakuria for several hours. Cable operators said the fire had led to a shutdown of power affecting transmission and also snapped wires that severed connections. Repairs went on till late on Sunday evening.
Services were disrupted in the areas like Rajdanga, Kasba, Ballygunge, Gariahat, Dhakuria and EM Bypass.“There has been a power supply issue following the fire and the CESC is supposed to look into it. Cables have been affected and the repairs could take time,” said an operator. The disruption comes exactly a month after cable services had been snapped in most parts of the city due to the Cyclone Amphan. Meanwhile, dead cables have been pulled down in a major part of south Kolkata following urban development minister Firhad Hakim’s warning that the civic authorities would snap them indiscriminately, if operators didn’t act. Last week, Hakim had set June 15 as the deadline to remove the defunct TV and broadband wires perched on lampposts and trees. “Most of the dead wires have been removed from the Bhawanipore-Alipore area till the second Hooghly Bridge. In some areas, the work has come to a temporary halt but will soon resume,” said Tapash Das of Ideal Cable TV Operators’ Association.
Some cable operators claimed they were being wrongly held responsible for the wire mess. “Most cables that you see on the major thoroughfares belong to the MSOs.The wires on lamp posts were put up by telecom companies and internet providers who never pull down dead wires,” said an operator.