BSNL cable theft loss down to Rs 40.65 lakh in FY14

New Delhi: Telecom public sector enterprise BSNL faced loss of Rs 40.65 lakh due to 277 incidents of cable thefts in the current fiscal so far, Parliament was informed today. The state-run company had faced losses of Rs 7.13 crore in 1,232 incidents on cable thefts in the last fiscal. Maximum number of incidents were reported from Himachal Pradesh, which accounted for 248 incidents of thefts out of total 277 cases in this fiscal.[caption id=“attachment_1379217” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Telecom cable. AFP[/caption] Last year too, the state had reported maximum incidents of 1,128 out of total 1,232 cases, causing a financial loss of Rs 1.82 crore to the company. “All the telephone cables are laid underground by BSNL except few places in remote and hilly areas where laying of underground cables is difficult,” Minister of State for Communications and IT Killi Kruparani informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. On a question whether there is shortage of cables at various telecom districts of BSNL, the minister said, “BSNL has reported that there is no shortage of cables in telecom circles/ districts situated in different parts of the country.” “BSNL has reported that theft of overhead telephone cables did occur in some telecom circles,” Kruparani said. The loss from cable theft in 2010-11 and 2011-12 stood at Rs 2.48 crore and 2.03 crore respectively. In 2010-11 and 2011-12, 1,169 incidents out of total 1,222 cases and 1,090 out of 1,165 cases respectively were reported from Himachal Pradesh. Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir and North East were among the regions that reported cable theft incidents in the last three years. PTI