Chief Minister of Puducherry, N Rangasamy announced in the Assembly today that an expert committee would be formed soon to go into the demand for a government run Cable TV Corporation in the Union Territory.
He welcomed the suggestion from opposition for such a corporation to beef up the revenue to municipalities.
"I fully agree with the view of the member that the municipalities' revenue should be strengthened", Rangasamy said, replying to a question tabled by AIADMK MLA, Om Sakthi Segar.
He said the government would act as soon as the committee submitted its report.
Earlier, Local Administration Minister N G Panneerselvam said the government was keen about forming a cable television corporation and was going ahead with its plan to form a committee to go into the merits and scope for the corporation.
Om Sakthi Segar said a private concern operating cable television in Puducherry had been netting hefty sums from subscriptions. But the concern was not paying the taxes to the municipalities and on the other hand presenting statements to the authorities concealing the actual number of connections it was serving.
"As much as Rs 250 was being collected from every subscriber every month month and around 2.40 lakh connections were under the control of the private concern", he alleged.
The government should launch its own corporation so that the fund starved municipalities' revenue position would become comfortable.
AIADMK legislature party leader P Purushothaman said, Segar had been bringing to the notice of the government for the last three years the "hefty earnings of the private player and "untrue" accounts submitted to the government on number of connections. No action had been taken to start a corporation, he said.
Replying to a question by Purushothaman, the Chief Minister said that a Traders Welfare Board would be formed soon in Puducherry and details of the system in place in neighbouring states were also being collected. The Board would come up without delay, he said.
