The Parliamentary Standing Committee today rapped the Centre for introducing CAS without looking into the pre-requisites, even as the Government was in a ‘‘defer CAS’’ mode. Panel chairman Somnath Chatterjee said the staggered implementation was a clear admission that the Government was not prepared for it. The panel which finalised its report before the implementation of CAS was postponed, from its earlier designated date of July 15 to September 1, was of the view that it be deferred if necessary. ‘‘We want smooth implementation of CAS so that the consumer does not face any problem. Certain steps have to be taken before the Government fixes a date,’’ he told reporters. But Govt won’t budge from its Sept 1 deadline NEW DELHI: THE Government has decided to stick to its deferred date of September 1 for the rollout of CAS in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi. Intending to stick by this schedule, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, after a two-hour meeting with Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, said: ‘‘CAS will be implemented in all the four metros in a phased manner as planned.’’ The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, Principle Secretary at the PMO Brajesh Mishra, Law Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu and Delhi BJP leaders Madan Lal Khurana and V.K. Malhotra. This was the fourth meeting between Prasad and Vajpayee on this issue. Khurana had pleaded for deferring the rollout at least for Delhi, till Assembly elections were over later this year as he feared it would be suicidal for the party. ENS The Committee rapped the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for setting the deadline without assessing the availability and price of set-top boxes (STB) required to access pay channels and has suggested the Ministry monitor the STB availability to avoid blackout of pay channels. It has also urged the Ministry to make all efforts to ensure indigenous manufacture of STBs. The Committee has also recommended the minimum number of free-to-air channels for the basic tier of Rs 72 be increased from 30 to 60, as this would be left entirely to the cable operators. ‘‘The Committee fails to share the Ministry’s optimism that a smooth rollout of CAS will be possible. It therefore recommends the Ministry meticulously monitor the availability of STBs to avoid any blackout of pay channels,’’ states the report. Meanwhile, several free-to-air broadcasters met Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit but failed to ‘‘convince’’ her. Dikshit told the group, including representatives of Aaj Tak, Sab TV, Sahara and Zee that she was not opposed to CAS as such but to the way it was being ‘‘thrust’’ upon consumers. ‘‘I am confused about the whole thing. I am not convinced so far,’’ she said, adding that she had requested broadcasters to present their case in writing, mentioning rates and how they wanted to go about implementation. Free-to-air broadcasters will be meeting Dikshit tomorrow in another effort to impress upon her the importance of implementing CAS in Delhi.
