Punjab Congress Seeks Centre Action On SAD Monopoly Over Cable Networks

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CHANDIGARH – The Punjab Congress has approached the Centre on the issue of the SAD monopoly over the cable network in the state, seeking remedial measures. The Congress has told the Centre that the monopoly is “preventing a free and fair flow of news and information”.

Addressing various committee members, PCC president Capt Amarinder Singh and party in charge Gulchain Singh Charak repeatedly raised the issue and said they had brought the matter to the notice of the Government of India which had assured them of appropriate action.

During the meeting of the PCC media committee, the members said the local cable networks, run by a company supported and funded by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, had monopolised the trade, blacking out certain channels. To this Capt Amarinder said, he had already raised the issue with Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni. The Congress leadership said the state was totally dependent on various central grants coming through the 16 flagship programmes of the UPA Government.

Both Capt Amarinder Singh and Charak said without these grants the state government would have gone bankrupt. The two leaders emphasised the need for telling the people of Punjab that various grants being sanctioned and released by the state government were actually coming from the Centre. At a meeting of the UPA Flagship Programmes Implementation Monitoring Committee, Charak said the main issue in the forthcoming elections would be development.