Cable TV service shut down in hills

GJM president Bimal Gurung claimed that the cable TV service has been blocked as the local channels aired programmes in support of the Gorkhaland movement.

“The government has blocked out the TV channels as they were showing reports supporting us and through them we were reached people,” Gurung said.

In a retaliatory move,the GJM said it will remove all the cellphone towers from the hills.

“I have asked my people to uproot the mobile towers. The animals and birds are harmed by the radiation and we do not need mobile network. We will remove all the mobile towers,” the GJM chief said.

Two cable service providers —- Darjeeling Combined Cable Network (DCCN) and Milkyway Cable Vision —- cater to the needs of more than 70 per cent of the area in Darjeeling town while the remaining population —- mostly in Kalimpong and Kurseong sub-divisions —- has switched over to direct to home (DTH) services.

The cable TV operators termed the order as a “political decision” taken by the government. They claimed to have received a hand written notice without any government seal asking them to close down their control rooms.

“We went to the office of District Magistrate but we were told to come after the holidays on Monday,” said Anupam Subba,owner of the DCCN.

Sources said that the district administration officials raided the offices of the two cable service providers late on Thursday and asked them to shut down the services after as the operators failed to provide valid documents.

The district administration said that it was a “routine drive”. “The cable service providers have been asked to produce certain documents. Once they do so the services can resume,” a senior district administration official said.

However,the move evoked strong reaction from the GJM,which described it as undemocratic and ‘Talibani style’.

“The question is why did they come and ask for documents at 9 pm. They should have done that during the office hours after sending a prior notice. Moreover,they did not produce any search warrant and also did not give any seizure list. This is an illegal move by the government,said Binoy Tamang,vice-president of the GJM.

Questioning the “real motive” behind the action,he said “by all these undemocratic moves,the government cannot throttle our movement.”

Meanwhile,police continued to crack down on GJM supporters and arrested Morcha leader Santosh Tamang and three others in connection with old cases.