Kathmandu, Mar. 23:Incidents of theft of telephone cables in the capital is on the rise since the last few days but as the concerned body is indifferent in this matter and the clients have to suffer.

The incidents of theft of cable started at Shankhamul and Buddhanagar about two weeks back.

At present, more than 460 telephone lines of these localities have been stolen, according to chief of Chabahil exchange office of the Nepal Telecommunicatin Corporation (ntc) Krishna Ghimire.

As a result of the theft of telephone cable at Thapagaon on March 21, about 65 telephone lines have gone dead. When telephone cable was being stolen at Buddhanagar, local people shouted but the thief ran away.

According to Mr Ghimire, street children might be involved in this kind of theft.

Likewise, telephone services have been disrupted in the area in front of Manakamana Cinema Hall at Bijuli Bazaar due to theft of the telephone cables, according to the local residents.

In the same manner about 1,200 metres of cable was stolen at the Nayabasti of Purano Naikap Bhanjyang vdc about a week back. Telephone cable was stolen in the area about three months back, according to Basudev Shrestha, a local resident. He is of the view that drug addicts might be involved in the theft.

When contacted in this connection, ntc spokesman Madhusudan Karmacharya said that as the houses in Kathmandu were not built in a planned manner, it had become difficult to lay secondary cables underground. Ntc has to develop a planned system of cable distribution to prevent this kind of incidents, he added.

He is of the view that the theft may be due to value of copper in the telephone cable.