Rajkot fines Reliance Jio Rs1 cr for careless tower-building

Amid increasing complaints about the environmentally careless telecom tower-building by Reliance Jio Infocom, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has slapped a Rs1-crore penalty on the Mukesh Ambani-controlled firm for misusing its permission for laying cables in the city.

RMC Commissioner Vijay Nehra has issued a notice to the company and asked it to pay the penalty before 15 March, failing which legal action including filing of a police complaint would be initiated, Nehra said in an official release issued by the civic body of the major Gujarat city.

The company's contractor allegedly laid parallel cables of a local internet provider though the company had been given permission to lay only its cables, the notice said, adding that the company had misused the RMC permission.

The news comes even as there are complaints of Reliance Jio killing green spaces in Mumbai, India's financial capital, with indiscriminate planting of telecom towers in the few green places of the metropolis.

The Press Club, Mumbai is currently holding a conference on the issue, addressed by top legal luminaries and respected NGOs.

Congress corporator Gayatriba Vaghela, the opposition leader in the RMC, was the first to point out the transgression by the local contractor; and he informed RMC commissioner Vijay Nehra.

"The RMC had issued two notices to the company. The first was issued on 15 December 2014, but company did not reply; while a second notice was issued on 22 January 2015. The company held its local contractor responsible for the misdeed but did not take any action against him. Therefore, the RMC decided to impose penalty on the company," Nehra said.

The corporation has also asked the company to stop work and remove parallel cables laid for the local internet service provider.