As 2023 FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup nears, overhead wires present a sorry state

BHUBANESWAR: As the city wears a new and improved look with smart footpaths, cycle tracks and illuminated flyovers, among others, for the 2023 FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup -- starting later this week -- the sight of hanging overhead wires in several parts of the city has become an eyesore, thereby inviting the ire of residents. While appreciating the administration’s efforts in giving the city a facelift ahead of the international tournament, the residents have urged the authorities to get rid of the overhead wires before the matches begin from January 13.
“The administration has marked the footpaths and cycle lanes but has not ensured that they are free of encroachments. Similarly, there has to be a regulation on the hanging utility wires. Without it, the beautification drive is meaningless,” urban planner Piyush Rout said. “The administration should control the matter. Bhubaneswar is competing with foreign countries and such a sight will tarnish the city’s image,” Patia resident Binod Mishra, a corporate employee, said.
Wires belonging to the electricity department, telecom companies, etc., can be seen hanging overhead in and around the arterial roads in the city. The government had taken up a project of an underground cabling system in the city, as part of which overhead wires were put underground but there are still hanging overhead wires at a few places.
Officials of Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL), which executed the underground cabling project, said that most of the 11KV and 33KV lines were put underground.
Manoj Panda, OPTCL’s corporate communications manager, said, “Almost all the major wires have been put underground but there are some household lines which are yet to be commissioned into the project.”
Sources said that while executing the underground cabling project, the government came up with a plan to set up dedicated underground utility corridors in all parts of the city where not only the electrical lines but also the telecom, gas and other lines will be put underground.