Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to amend the Odisha Mobile Towers & Telegraph Line, OFC & Related Infrastructure Policy 2017, as maintained by the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2022.
“Earlier Right of Way (ROW) for Optical Fibre Cable Infrastructures Policy has been renamed as Odisha Mobile Towers and Telegraph Line, OFC and related Telecom Infrastructure Policy, 2017, as per the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2022,” an official release said today.
The release added that new clauses have been added under the Process of Granting Permission, extending the conditions of obtaining permission to mitigate public inconvenience or enhance public safety or structural safety. “Tariff for underground telegraph
infrastructure has been fixed as Rs 1000/per kilometre to meet administrative expenses.”
While the charges to be levied for pits have been added, e other terms under clause 5.5.2 (2) (i) remain unaltered. A new clause related to some financial modification for overground telegraph infrastructure has also been added. In addition, the amendment includes the usage of street furniture for the installation of small cells and telegraph lines and the establishment of telegraph infrastructure over private property.
The timeline for the removal/alteration of telegraph infrastructure has been fixed at 90 days. “The ADM has been assigned with the task of RoW clearance and Nodal Officers from distribution companies to resolve all power-related issues of Telecom service/infra providers.”
A new clause has also been added to expand the scope of responsibility of the distribution companies to intimate the infra providers of the duration of electric supply to telecom infra in rural areas on request by the service providers. “This will help service providers to plan for power backup,” the release said.
Gist of Amendments
- Earlier Right of Way (ROW) for Optical Fibre Cable Infrastructures Policy has been renamed as Odisha Mobile Towers and Telegraph Line, OFC, and related Telecom Infrastructure Policy, 2017 as per the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2022.
- New clauses 5.5.1 (xiv) to 5.5.1 (xx) are added under existing Clause-5.5.1- Process of Granting Permission extending the conditions of getting permission to mitigate public inconvenience or enhance public safety or structural safety.
- One financial clause like a tariff for underground telegraph infrastructure has been fixed as Rs 1000/- per kilometre to meet administrative expenses.
- Existing clause 5.5.2 (2) (i) has been modified by adding the charges to be levied for pits only with other terms remaining unaltered as the addition of telegraph infrastructure has been made.
- A new sub-clause has been added under 5.10 as 5.10 (viii)-relates to some financial modification for overground telegraph infrastructure. Besides new clauses have also been added as 5.10 (A) on the usage of street furniture for the installation of small cells and telegraph lines and 5.10 (B) on the establishment of telegraph infrastructure over private property.
- 4th Paragraph of Clause 6.17 has been updated in order to fix a timeline i.e. 90 days removal/alteration of telegraph infrastructure having regard to emergent and expedient circumstances.
- New 2 numbers of paragraphs need to be included under Clause-3-Nodal Department wherein the ADM has been assigned with the task of RoW clearance and Nodal Officers from distribution companies to resolve all power-related issues of Telecom service/infra providers.
- New clauses are added as 4.4 (vii) under clause 4.4 to expand the scope of responsibility of the Distribution Companies i.e. to intimate the infra providers of the duration of electric supply to telecom infra in rural areas on request by the service providers. This will help service providers to plan for power backup.
