Come September 15, when the DMK celebrates the Mupperum Vizha — three celebrations including the birth anniversary of Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar, the party would have made a token gesture of fulfilling its main poll promise by providing 25,000 new 14-inch colour television sets to those who don’t own one already. By the end of four years, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi hopes to distribute one crore television sets to poor households across Tamil Nadu. With each set likely to cost about Rs 2,000, the entire project is estimated to put the exchequer back by at least Rs 2,000 crore. The state treasury is already reeling from a Rs 7,500-crore blow due to the farm loan waiver. While the DMK government is turning to the Centre for financial assistance, the party’s pro-poor poll sops are proving to be a heavy drain on the coffers. According to sources, the state-run Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), the nodal agency for finalising bids for manufacturing the televisions, will shortly issue tender notices for national competitive bids for the first lot of 25,000 sets. Finishing touches would be given to the tender notice after discussions with experts from IIT Madras and the Anna University about specifications like number of channels and shape of the set. Once the tender notice is finalised, it will be presented to the yet-to-be-formed committee of legislators for its approval. These sets have to be ready before September 15 this year when the first distribution will take place. Subsequently, international bids would be invited for manufacturing the remaining sets. ‘‘Global tenders are being invited as Indian companies do not have the plant facilities to manufacture such huge numbers of sets at a short notice,’’ said a source. The target by 2006-end is to manufacture 25 lakh sets. At the end of every year, over the next four years, 25 lakh sets would be ready for distribution. The Sun’s shining While the colour TV sets were meant to be a poll bait, the commercial implications for the Sun TV Group and its influential multi-system operator (MSO) Sumangali Cable Vision would be staggering. The group is run by the family of Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran, Karunanidhi’s grand nephew. With a near 90 per cent reach across the state, the hugely successful multi-crore regional television group would have another one crore potential viewers for its channels spanning south India and more lakhs of new subscribers for its MSO. For the DMK, the 24-hour Sun News channel could prove a more effective and far-reaching instrument of political propaganda.
