Govt to crack whip on erring cable operators

NEW DELHI: Even as the debate on CAS continues, harassed residents in Delhi have managed to corner help from the Delhi government for taming their cable operators.
The state government has directed deputy commissioners (DCs) of all nine districts to hear complaints against the cable operators.
While speaking to The Times of India on Monday, chief secretary Shailja Chandra said,‘‘We would be looking into the interests of consumers, so that they are not subjected to financial strain by cable operators.’’
She said the move to depute DCs as nodal officers for the cable TV operators was taken recently after the CM’s office was flooded with complaints against cable operators.
By conservative estimates, there are 6.7 million homes watching cable television in the four metro cities.
‘‘Till now, there was no proper consumer grievance redressal system for cable television viewers. We want to gauge the efficacy of this mechanism in the days to come,’’ said S Krishnan, director of Consumer Coordination Council, which has united 40-odd consumer groups against cable operators’ monopoly.
‘‘The consumers, today, are paying anywhere between Rs 200 and Rs 450. Operators hike the fee arbitrarily, on the pretext of providing a new channel, which is unfair,’’ he said.
Random monthly fee hikes, no information about free-to-air channels and poor quality of transmission are concerns voiced by consumer groups.
Bhagidari State Council convenor M K Mohanty said:‘‘Cable operators and cable providers enjoy monopoly and the consumer is left in the lurch. One has no option, but stick to the only cable operator in the colony.’’
Mohanty, however, is sceptical of bureaucracy’s role in the redressal mechanism.