Illegal closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and mobile network booster towers have finally come on the radar of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC).
MBMC’s anti-encroachment department led by deputy municipal commissioner-Maruti Gaikwad and ward officer- Yogesh Gunijan have launched a drive to raze the illegally erected towers in the twin-city. The team pulled down five such towers which had been illegally erected on the roadsides by a private agency in the Golden Nest area of Bhayandar (east) on Wednesday.
According to officials the towers were erected under the guise of providing infrastructural support to install CCTV cameras but were apparently being used as network boosters. “Neither road digging permission was taken from the public works department (PWD) nor any type of approval was taken from the civic administration to install network boosters for commercial exploitation.” said Gaikwad.
As of now, the MBMC has identified 42 such towers across the twin city and all of them will be pulled down in coming days, said an official. Devices were mounted on towers to boost mobile signals. The towers which were not only making a mockery of the law but have been a reason for huge revenue losses to the civic body, coupled by inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians due to the indiscriminate road digging work also hurting existing utility cables.
