Construction in a city like Mumbai is a never-ending exercise, and so is the road works. Dug up roads are a common sight in India’s financial capital and nobody bats an eye when they see a road or footpath being dug up, now robbers seem to be taking advantage of that attitude. A bizarre case of theft has come to light from Dadar area of Mumbai where robbers dug up a footpath and stole Copper wire worth Rs 6 to 7 lakhs from cables buried underneath.
A regular follow-up over uprooted paver blocks on a footpath on the Dadar-Matunga stretch of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road led to the discovery of theft of copper wire from utility cables laid under the footpath. People assumed it was regular work being carried out by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), but it turned out to be a case of theft.
The thieves dug up the footpath alongside the road and stole Copper worth several lakhs from MTNL’s cables buried underneath. The brazen theft came to light after a local noticed something amiss.
Interestingly, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai’s civic body, had carried out work on the same footpath for almost a fortnight and had levelled it up before it was dug up again. After the residents brought this to the BMC’s notice, the civic body sent its staff to check what was happening. That is when it discovered that thieves were stealing copper wires from the utility cables under the footpath. Later, MTNL also complained that over 400 phone lines tripped in Dadar-Matunga area, apparently due to the stealing of Wires.
The Matunga police have already arrested five men for this theft of Copper that costs ₹845 per kg in market. Now there is suspicion that similar thefts could be occurring in other areas of Mumbai where roads have been dug up.
