On Hyderabad’s streets, coils of severed black cable lie abandoned in corners and along pavements, stark reminders of a frantic drive by the electricity department to strip away dangling broadband and cable TV wires from power poles. What began as a safety measure after a spate of fatal electrocutions has now turned into a messy tussle between officials and cable operators, with no clear plan on what to do with the piles of discarded wires.
The removal drive follows a string of tragedies across the city that claimed nine lives in a week.
