Govt to consider bringing cable TV under corporation

Puducherry, Apr 29 (UNI) The Territorial administration will consider to bring the Cable TVs under the government through a Corporation, Chief Minister N Rangasamy told the Legislative Assembly today.

Replying to a question by Anbazhagan (AIADMK), the Chief Minsiter said three registered cable TV companies and 332 operators were functioning in Puducherry. Stating that there were as many as 9,467 connections in Puducherry municipality and 8,600 in Ozhukarai municipality, Mr Rangasamy said ten per cent of the subscription was being collected by the government towards entertainment tax and altogether Rs 11,97,840 was collected from five municipalities and ten commune panchayats in the Union Territory.

Mr Anbazhagan said in Puducherry there were 3.20 lakh ration cards and at least in two lakh families cable TV connections, he said the government should have received at least Rs 6 crore by way of revenue from the entertainment tax.

Replying to this Mr Rangasamy said the government was aware of this and necessary steps would be taken to streamline the operation in such a way that it received revenue from entertainment tax, at the same time ensuring that the subscribers were not affected.

He said the modalities adopted in Tamil Nadu were sought and necessary steps would be taken after obtaining the details.

CPI member R Viswanbathan urged the government to take over the cable TVs and sought abolition of entertainment tax as in Tami Nadu.

Leader of the Opposition A M H Nazeem also urged the takeover of cable TVs by the government. With several members expressing their views, Speaker R Radhakrishnan said the Chief Minister had stated that the government would take steps to bring the cable TVs under it. More discussions were needed, he observed and passed on to other questions.

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