Hills seethe over cable channel 'block' - Times of India

DARJEELING: Outrage over the state government's blocking of three local cable channels intensified in the Hills on Saturday even as the district administration has allegedly asked two local operators to submit a memorandum promising not to include the channels in their feed. National channels, however, are being aired. The GJM leadership has warned the district administration of things going out of hand if wild rumours and half-truths have a free run, as has been happening after the shutdown. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said that the "government was not trying to gag" the audio-visual media, but the local cable operators had merely been asked to "show their papers". She, however, issued a strong warning. "National chanels are already on air but I want to make it very clear that any effort to foment tension will be dealt with firmly." As TOI had already reported, the general perception in the Hills is that the dist rict administration feels that the telecast of local news on the three channels - Humro, Himali and Darjeeling TV - is adding momentum to the ongoing statehood movement. Citizens and GJM leaders strongly criticized the administration's move to "shut down" the cable operators - Darjeeling Combined Cable Network (DCCN) and Milky Way Cable Vision (MWCV). DCCN director Anupam Subba told TOI: "A senior district officer asked us to provide in writing that we would not telecast the news and entertainment programmes of the three local channels. It is clear from this that the target of the district administration are these three channels. Checking our registration and other papers is a ploy by the administration to hide its actual intention." Subba said DCCN had been operating since 2000 and has been paying due entertainment tax and service tax each month. "If our papers aren't in order, how has the district administration been collecting this money from us?" he dem anded. On Thursday evening, a team of district officials allegedly went to the control rooms of the two cable operators and asked for registration papers and other documents. "These documents are not kept in the control room but at my house. Since my staff at the control room couldn't produce the documents, an officer wrote out an order on a blank piece of paper asking us to suspend operations. It is not even a legal order but we've complied with it," said Ramesh Pradhan, director of MWCV. "On Friday, my staff went with the papers to meet the sub-divisional magistrate, but he directed them to another officer who refused to examine the papers on the ground that he was not authorized to do so. They then went to meet the district magistrate at his residence, but the DM didn't meet them," said Pradhan, who's recuperating from an operation at a private hospital in Siliguri. "The district administration made us run around for the whole day and then told us to pro duce the documents asked for when offices reopen on Monday. This is harassment," said DCCN's Subba. GJM assistant secretary Benoy Tamang said: "The raids on the cable operators were timed very cleverly on Thursday night, since the next three days were holidays and the TV blackout would continue till Monday. But we fear that on Monday, too, senior officers would keep away from their offices on the plea that Gorkhaland supporters are picketing in front of government offices. If that happens, it'll be difficult to control public anger. Also, with wild rumours circulating, the volatile situation could take a turn for the worse. We're trying to scotch all these rumours, but it's not possible to do so always. In case people believe a rumour and things get out of hand, the district administration will have to accept full responsibility for the consequences." Tamang's fears, said locals, could come true. On Saturday, rumours spread about Morcha leaders being arrested fro m Kalimpong; of GLP cadres lodged in prison in Siliguri being beaten up by other inmates; of chief minister Mamata Banerjee calling Gorkhas "foreigners" in Kolkata; of police not allowing Morcha supporters to take out processions in the foothills and of a reported move by the state government to ban the GJM. Morcha leaders stepped in and scotched the rumours and tried to calm tempers. "Cutting off formal news sources like TV channels will lead to informal channels gaining currency. Had people watched news on TV, they wouldn't have believed the rumours. The TV blackout is an ill-advised and dangerous move," said S M Chettri, a former teacher of sociology at Darjeeling Government College. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFJpH9TbvUea2NbMhM6qx3I1WQC0A&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Hills-seethe-over-cable-channel-block/articleshow/21753057.cms

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2953939