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Journalism of Courage
With the fear of a cable blackout looming large in Kolkata with the digitisation deadline ending on Wednesday,Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday lashed out at the Centre saying that it has no right to thrust unnecessary expense upon the residents of Kolkata.
They just cannot snap the analogue signal without giving proper time and option to people. As far as digitisation is concerned,authorities should look into three primary areas before making set top boxes mandatory availability,fair price and affordability, she said.
The Centre had extended the digitisation deadline for the four metropolitan cities Delhi,Mumbai,Kolkata and Chennai several times. Recently the West Bengal government had sought another extension citing law and order problem.
She termed the Centres move mastani (high handedness) and said Bengal would not tolerate such dictatorship. If need be,we will organise a movement against this. The Centre cannot just take away the right to watch TV from them, she said.
Without making it very clear,the CM also hinted at a possible foul play in the process.
Why is the Centre in such a hurry to implement the set top boxes. And since the demand is staggering,why was the contract given to only two-three companies. An inquiry has to be made into these issues, she suggested.
Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim later met Kolkata Police Commissioner,I&B Secretary and Home Secretary on the digitisation state.
The state government said that over 50 per cent of the 33 lakh cable connections of the city are yet to be digitised. This is a much lower figure than the Centres assessment,which last week said that 86 per cent households in Kolkata have been digitised.
Operators agree to no blackout for 2 weeks
Kolkata: The multi-system operators (MSOs) of the city said there will not be a blackout for at least two more weeks. They said it was a Catch-22 situation for them. The Centre had asked us to discontinue with the analogue signals and the state has requested us to continue with it. We would not like to earn the ire of the state government which is closer home. So we will continue with it at least for another fortnight, said the director of a leading MSO. Many cable operators said they were giving out the set top boxes on a lease. We are charging Rs 700 for the box and if after some time the consumer wants to discontinue,well take it back refund the money after deducting depreciation, said A Raj of United Cable Communication. Suresh Sethia,Director of Siti Cable said it was more of a fight for retaining the customers shifting to DTH. We are procuring the set top boxes at Rs 1,600 and selling them at Rs 799 to retain the customers but still many are playing a wait-and-watch game, he said.
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