As issue snowballs, govt asks Centre for more DTH sets

Objections raised by residents of several panchayats of tribal district of Kinnaur over irregularities in free distribution of direct to home...

Objections raised by residents of several panchayats of tribal district of Kinnaur over irregularities in free distribution of direct to home (DTH) sets given under a special scheme by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting seem to have been brushed under a carpet, with just an inquiry ordered by the Deputy Commissioner.

However, seeing the issue snowball and to overcome embarrassment, the state government has written to the Prime Minister to procure 20,000 additional DTH sets for distribution to every household of the district, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The government has stated that just like special assistance of free DTH has been given to north-eastern states, the tribal households in Kinnaur should also be covered completely.

Though the first letter demanding additional DTH sets was sent to the PMO some weeks back, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has recently sent a reminder as well.

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During a visit to Himachal about three years back, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced free distribution of DTH sets in Kinnaur for better penetration of information to far-flung areas.

The Kinnaur administration this year received 9,926 sets for distribution in shadow areas of Doordarshan signal. A report of inquiry conducted by the Additional Divisional Magistrate of Kinnaur points out: “No guidelines were made for distribution of DTH to eligible households, leading to anarchy during distribution.” While the distribution started in June this year, meetings of district and sub-divisional committees for distribution were held on July 16 and August 8, respectively. Till then, 2,000 DTH sets had already been distributed.

There seems much more to the episode than what is stated by the inquiry report, which was started two months back, when people came up with complaints that some “influential people, officers and government offices were able to procure even more than one DTH set, while the people could not get even a single DTH set”.

Interestingly, instead of addressing the people’s allegations about siphoning of the DTHs to even an ITBP battalion in Sarahan in Shimla district, the report largely dwells on finding out the people behind the demonstrations in front of the DC office as a protest against the irregularities. It has been over a month that the inquiry report was submitted to the DC, but the government is silent on any visible action against defaulters.

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Secretary, Information and Public Relations Department, Ram Subhag Singh confirmed, “The Chief Minister had already written to the Prime Minister for 20,000 additional DTHs so that the entire district could be covered. Lately, he has sent a reminder letter for the same.” When asked about the inquiry report he said that he had not seen it, “but in future the distribution would only be done after drawing specific rules to prevent any problem”.

However, former Congress MLA from Kinnaur Jagat Singh Negi rued, “Without taking corrective action for the previous irregularities in distribution of DTH sets, the government was trying to hush up the matter in wake of upcoming parliamentary elections.”