In Dhaka, the sky is no longer clear. It’s crowded not with clouds, but with cables. Power lines, internet wires and TV connections hang in thick, messy clusters above every road. Some droop so low that rickshaw passengers duck to avoid them. Others spark during rain.
What was meant to bring light, and connection now brings danger. The city’s wiring system has grown like a wild plant without control or care. Every utility company lays its own line, but no one removes the old ones. Over time, they’ve turned into giant black webs hanging from poles and buildings.
A resident from Banani said they’ve learned to live under a ceiling of chaos. “We’re scared during storms,” he said. “Sometimes the wires catch fire, and no one knows whose line it is. This is a systematic failure.”
Fire incidents are frequent. The Fire Service says that in many neighbourhoods, electric short circuits from tangled wires cause serious accidents every year. Yet, the problem grows.
Workers from the internet and cable companies add new lines daily. They climb poles without safety gear, twist wires by hand, and leave loops hanging. These haphazard setups often block footpaths, trees, and even traffic signs.
City authorities have made promises. They talk of moving all overhead cables underground. Some pilot projects began in Gulshan and Dhanmondi, but progress is slow, and costs are high. Meanwhile, the rest of Dhaka remains trapped under its electric jungle.
Adiba Sultana, 34, from Mohammadpur, remarked that the situation is not only unsafe but also a major eyesore. “It affects the city’s image,” she said. “It shows how unmanaged Dhaka has become.”
At night, when the city lights up, the tangled wires create dark shadows across the streets. They remind people of what lies above, a danger waiting to fall. Until a real solution comes, Dhaka will continue to live under a tangle of its own making, struggling to breathe.
