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Minister writes to States on CAS implementation

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 23 . The Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, has written to the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu; seeking their cooperation in the implementation of the Conditional Access System in a zone in each of their respective capitals.

Mr. Prasad has asked the Chief Ministers to set up State Implementation Committees at the earliest to work out the nitty-gritty of implementing CAS.

To be headed by a Secretary-level officer from the State, the committee would include an official from the Ministry, besides representatives of cable operators, Multi-System Operators (MSOs), consumers and the police.

Meanwhile, MSOs met Mr. Prasad today and urged him to ensure the implementation of CAS in New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai from November 1

However, the Minister is said to have told them in no uncertain terms that the Ministry would not fix any one date for all three cities, but wait for a recommendation from the States.

The Ministry is evidently reluctant to set another date for fear that the circumstances which led to its non-implementation in all but one of the notified areas as of date would come into play again and force a further deferment. Another deferment, according to Ministry officials, could well ring the death knell for CAS.

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• Minister writes to States on CAS implementation

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