The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has notified Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules, 2022 to protect telecom infrastructure from damages. The rules lay out the procedure for exercising the legal right to dig or excavate any property.
As per the rules, any person who wants to dig or excavate any property which could cause damage to telegraph infrastructure or interrupt telegraphic communication, must provide a prior notice to the licensee through a common portal by submitting the information of such digging or excavation, prior to the commencement of such exercise. The notice shall include the name and address of the person exercising the legal right, agency details, contact details, date and time of start of the exercise, description and location of the exercise, and the reasons for such digging or excavation. The licensee shall then, through the common portal, provide the details of telegraph infrastructure owned, controlled or managed by the licensee, falling under, over or along the property with which the person intends to deal in legal exercise of the right, along with precautionary measures for coordination in avoiding damages to the telegraph infrastructure.
Further, the rules state that any person who has dug or excavated any property in such a manner causing damage to a telegraph infrastructure shall be liable to pay the damage charges to the telegraph authority. The damage charges shall be computed based on the expenses as may be incurred in restoring damages.
