Govt gears up to rein in cable mafia

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 19

Cable operators, who have been fleecing residents by charging hefty subscription amounts, need to be cautious now as the Department of Local Bodies has made up its mind to make them pay taxes they have been evading for the past several years.

The MC officials have been “secretly” preparing reports on cables laid in the city, which are supposed to be sent to the Local Bodies Department. Though the officials had denied collecting any information regarding cables, set-top boxes, television sets etc. It was learnt a door-to-door survey would be conducted soon by the MC.

Clearing all doubts, the Minister for Local Bodies, Navjot Singh Sidhu, told The Tribune that he had got enough information which showed that cable operators had evaded taxes. “They had no permission from the appropriate authorities to run cable service, nor did they pay any taxes. They will have to face the music now. The cable operators (small or big) will have to pay taxes to the Local Bodies Department and for this, stringent measures are being taken by the state government. There is no detail about set-top boxes, the number of television sets in each house etc.

“There is a huge disparity in subscription fee as one operator is charging Rs 150-200 while other is taking Rs 300 for the same set of channels. Why should the public or the state government suffer. The cable operators will have to pay heavy penalties to the tune of even 300 per cent,” said Sidhu.

Most cable operators have been too rude with the public. “If we have to make a complaint, we have to request the cable operator because his attendants warn us of removing the cable connection. If the government takes everything in its hands, then they will not be able to exploit the public,” said GD Goel, a resident of the Civil Lines area.