The Meghalaya government is planning to start working on converting overhead power cables to underground ones in the mountainous state capital and two other important towns of the State.

“ Underground cabling is something adopted by many countries abroad and isn’t a new concept. We have already completed underground cabling on a pilot basis in the Police Bazaar area,” Power Minister James Sangma told reporters on Thursday.

“Overhead electric cable apart from being an eyesore is also risky, especially during the windy seasons the wires touch each other and cause short circuits leading to power failure and also pose risk to the public,” Sangma added.

At present, Shillong city is criss-crossed with overhead lines for both transmission and distribution of power.