The Hindu : CAS: Centre leaves decision to Maharashtra, Bengal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 16, 2003

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CAS: Centre leaves decision to Maharashtra, Bengal

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 15. Finding itself in a bind, the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry today said it was willing to allow the Governments of Maharashtra and West Bengal to decide when and where it wanted to implement the Conditional Access System (CAS) in Mumbai and Kolkata respectively.

This was communicated to the representatives of the two State Governments at a meeting convened by the I&B Secretary, Pawan Chopra, of senior officials of the four States where CAS was to be introduced in the first phase. Though the Ministry has of late been stating that it would seek the concurrence of States while implementing the CAS in the second phase, this is for the first time that it has decided to leave the decision on when and where the new regime in cable television should be introduced in Mumbai and Kolkata to the respective Governments.

According to Mr. Chopra, the representatives of Maharashtra and West Bengal had been told to suggest convenient dates and zones for introduction of the CAS. Also, all four States had been asked to set up local committees to work out the nitty-gritty of implementing the CAS. Further, he said, despite reservations, no State had till date asked for a rollback of the system.

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