Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch the Call Before u Dig (CBuD) mobile application in the context of inaugurating the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area office and Innovation Centre in India. This app aims to regulate the coordination between underground utility owners and excavation agencies to avoid damage to utilities resulting from excavation.
The CBuD mobile application, designed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications, will serve as a gateway for excavating agencies to inquire about the availability of existing underground utilities before initiating any excavation work. The utility owners can also be updated about upcoming work at a particular site through the application.
By establishing efficient communication between the excavating agencies and utility owners, the CBuD app will ensure the safety of underlying utility assets such as gas pipelines, water pipelines, and optical fibre cables. Moreover, the app's provision of information about excavation work will save time and prevent damage during the process.
Excavation work can cause damage to underground utilities due to inadequate knowledge about existing utilities. This damage results in financial loss to utility owners and inconvenience to the public. In the Telecom sector alone, there are approximately 10 lakh OFC (optical fibre cable) cuts annually, leading to an estimated loss of ₹3,000 crore per year. The CBuD app is a crucial step towards protecting underground utility assets and avoiding loss.
