KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 6

In a bid to make city areas cleaner, Lalitpur Metropolitan City has started removing unwanted and poorly managed wires and cables dangling from utility poles in major city areas.

LMC Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan, who aims to develop the area as a heritage city, called this is yet another move towards that goal. LMC has deployed city police for the job.

Wires and cables dangling in almost every corner, avenue and roadside from utility poles are one of the major causes of visual pollution and sporadic accidents. Around dozens of city police were today working to manage the dangling wires in Kupondole area.

City police have also summoned nine Internet Service Providers to manage their wires.

The metropolis will cut and dump the wires of service providers who fail to abide by the local government’s order.

City police Chief Sitaram Hachhethu said those wires below four metres in height were managed. Similarly, wires tied across roads and should be at a height above six metres.

“We constantly hear news of accidents due to wires dangling low above the road. We are now on the primary mission of managing such low dangling wires,”

Hachhethu said. The city’s utility poles are often covered with large chunks of unused wire that mostly belong to ISPs and Cable TV service providers.

“We came to know that ISPs and other service providers who haphazardly fix wires do not bother to remove wires after users unsubscribe their service.

This keeps increasing the number of useless wires on utility poles,” Hachhethu said.

The LMC said around 60 per cent of wires on utility poles were unused and mostly belonged to ISPs. The LMC, which will clear unused wires this time, will mandate ISPs to clear unused wires now onwards.

The LMC expects to end the wire clearing project within six months in major city areas in the metropolis.