Residents fear incidents of electrocution, which is heard of frequently from Old Dhaka, might take over in the lanes and by-lanes of this diplomatic area because of the manner the cables are drawn.

Mohammed Mominul Islam, deputy manager (commercial operations), Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (Desco) said: "Apart from the hazzards of untidy cables, the probability of short circuits are evident resulting in accidents, especially when unskilled cable TV and internet personnel work on these poles."

"Every pole has its own capacity. Excess cables on each pole create possibility of accidents. It worsens when Desco workers cannot work on or fix electricity problems because of the jumbled wires," he said.

Another Desco official said before the 13th SAARC summit, scheduled in the beginning of this year, a meeting with the cable and broadband operators in Gulshan was called. These operators were asked to take control of neatening the cables, but the decisions fell on deaf ears.

A resident from Road No 37 said that thick cables of various colours sagging 15 feet or so above ground level blemish the beauty of the area, and with more than five cable and broadband service providers operating the competition in drawing the cables in extensive.

Another complained that broadband connections fail at a light drizzle, and the electricity fluctuations make bad situations worse. The service providers take quite a long time to fix the problem, mostly because locating the cables are time consuming.

One dangerous instance during thunderstorms is that water gets into the wires, resulting in transformers burning out and electricity flowing along all cables destroying electrical equipment in houses as well.

General Secretary of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) Ershad Shafi Chowdhury when contacted said that Karwan Bazar is equipped with Guy Wire -- a system by which utility cables are bundled firmly with Desa poles with four strong wires on each side of the road where cables pass through and the cables are neatly in place.

"Gulshan area will very soon be brought under that system. We had meetings with Desco whose poles are mandatory to support the wiring system,"added Ershad.

Regarding the damage to personal computers that have broadband connections, Ershad agreed that when thunderstorms occur short circuits cause disruption to the service and sometimes the equipment burn out because of the high electricity voltage passing through these cables.

President of the Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB) Anwar Parvez said most cables of TV operators are orderly mounted. "It is the different coloured broadband internet, telephone and PABX cables that are dangling haphazardly," he said.

But an officer of an internet service provider in the Gulshan, Banani and Uttara areas, said that they had no choice but to use Desa poles to draw cables. "There is no underground cable system and tangled cables are unavoidable under these circumstances," he said, adding that they are fully aware of the risk of electrocution during thunderstorms.