Senior Reliance Jio officials booked for illegal road digging

Three senior officials of Reliance Jio, the telecom venture from Reliance Industries that is slated for commercial launch by December, were today booked for allegedly digging the roads in the city without prior permission from municipal authorities.
Police here said in a release that they booked site engineers Nitin Patil, Manohar Raut, cluster manager Ajay Thackeray and some other officials associated with the project following a complaint by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).
However, when contacted a Reliance Jio spokesman said the "booked officials" were not present at the digging site.
"Rel Jio engineers whose names have been reported were not present at the site. None of them have been arrested. One of our contractor's workers, out of ignorance, was doing some work outside the permitted area and was reported by the municipal authorities to the police," the spokesman said.

The police said these officials were booked on the charges of carrying out road digging in the city without due permission from the city corporation.
The corporation, in its complaint, said such digging endangers the lives of pedestrians and motorists apart from damaging the roads.

The TMC has stated that the company has dug up roads in Indira Nagar Naka, opposite Maratha Hotel and Ashar IT Road in Wagle Estate area.
Police have booked Reliance Jio officials under IPC Sections 283 (obstruction in public way), 336 (act endangering life or safety of others) and 431 (mischief by damaging public road), among others, the release said.

During the RIL AGM earlier this month, company Chairman Mukesh Ambani said Reliance Jio will offer 4G services at rates as low as Rs 300 to Rs 500.