MIANWALI, Nov 16: Development projects are designed for the betterment of communities, but ill-planning and non-coordination between the interlinked systems involved in the development work coupled with malpractices of the contractor mafia and corruption by engineering staff as well as weak supervision turn such schemes into a constant trouble for the communities.

Projects involving laying of sewerage, gas and water supply pipes in the district have caused huge losses to roads, but the worst-affected are the telephone authorities and phone subscribers at the district headquarters.

It is learnt that the PTCL’s telegraph division had two main digital exchanges and 19 remote exchanges, carrying 25,000 installed telephone lines, occupying a vast territory from Isakhel tehsil in the north west to Piplan teshil in the south east, running along the banks of the Indus.

Since the inception of the district government system, many projects have been initiated, mostly in the main city of Mianwali. Most projects had affected the underground PTCL cable network, especially at the district headquarters. It reaches every nook and corner of the city, and is now found in pieces from the primary underground duct system to the lower secondary cables.

The destruction of the PTCL network started here with an ill-planned project (worth Rs20 million) of the sewerage system at Ballo-Khel Road that criss-crosses the site. The contractor and engineering staff damaged the underground PTCL network, especially the manholes that are the junction/termination of the entire cable routes, feeding a major part of the city. There was much hue and cry in this respect, but all public concerns and grievances went unheeded.

The ill-planned sewerage system seems waste of money under the district government. Thousands of phone subscribers were driven from pillar to post for the restoration of their phone service which was discontinued owing to damage of phone cables. To rub the salt into their wounds, another project started by the SNGPL for laying gas pipeline in the city dealt a blow to ill-fated PTCL cable network. The provision of one facility doesn’t mean the destruction of another essential service. Both should have coordinated, but that principle was never observed on account of political intervention.

The situation reached its climax in the shape of the construction of a railway underpass crossing near Committee Chowk. All cable routes and manholes have been exposed, the ducts shattered into pieces and the iron pipes and telephone cables are hanging. This site is the primary feeding area of telephone lines in the hub of city, carrying more than 5,000 connections that are extremely vulnerable to cable breakdown cutting off the city from telecommunication network.

This correspondent contacted the PTCL management which admitted that their OSP (outside plant) network had been suffering badly for the last two-and-a-half years at the hands of various government agencies in the name of development work under the district government.

Mianwali assistant divisional engineer Malik Abrar Mohammad Ali said the construction of an underpass was in full swing and the primary OSP network had been damaged. The duct system carrying 1,200 cable pairs had been shattered into pieces. The GI eight-way pipe was hanging at the site. He said they were working round the clock to ensure the safety of service under limited resources. He regretted the stepmotherly attitude of the district administration which never bothered to develop a liaison among the departments creating problems for this service.

This scribe also met divisional engineer (telegraph) Saeed Ahmad Mughal to know the problems created for subscribers. He said before the start of work on the underpass project, after a long discussion, an estimate of Rs2.6 million was submitted to the district government for shifting the present system lying in the way of the project, but none bothered to pay the company the estimated amount for the purpose. They started the work ignoring all possibilities pointed out before the start of project; their negligence resulted in a huge loss to PTCL and above all constant mental torture to phone subscribers.