Probe sought into disrupted assembly telecast

PANAJI - Goa Speaker Pratapsing Rane Friday asked Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to initiate a police probe into the blackout of live assembly transmissions by a section of cable TV operators.

Speaking during zero hour, Rane said the live telecast was intended to inform the people of what their legislators were doing in the house.

“The cables of the media are being cut by some miscreants. This is a programme which the whole population should be seeing. Why are miscreants cutting cables? Send the police and check it,” Rane said.

Goa is one of the first states in the country to relay live proceedings of the state legislative assembly.

The proceedings are telecast through local cable TV channels, which were declared illegal by the government last year, for violation of central broadcast norms.

Opposition legislators have alleged that the telecast had been stopped in the Congress-ruled constituencies to ensure that the opposition’s heckling of the government was blacked out.

Kamat told the speaker that a delegation of cable owners had complained that unknown people were cutting TV cables regularly.

“I will ask the police to check the matter,” Kamat said.

–Indo Asian News Service