The Hindu : CAS first phase from Sept. 1

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 12, 2003

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CAS first phase from Sept. 1

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 11. The Conditional Access System (CAS) will be implemented in the entire metropolitan area of Chennai from September 1 and Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata will witness a staggered rollout from the same date.

This was announced by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry here today in a notification that replaces the January 14 notification mandating the introduction of CAS in the four metros from July 15. The announcement came a week after the Ministry decided to consider a proposal of broadcasters and cable operators to defer its introduction till September 1.

Today's notification also draws up the outer limits of the zones which move to the new regime in the first phase in three metros.

As per the proposal hammered out between the broadcasters and cable operators at the Prime Minister's Office, the four cities will be divided into four zones for staggered introduction, with December 1 being the deadline for completion of the entire rollout. However, the Ministry decided to go for total rollout in Chennai as all stakeholders in the metropolis favoured it.

In the case of Delhi, the south zone will be the first to become CAS-enabled. The zone has been demarcated by the Yamuna (from the Delhi-Haryana border near Badarpur to Bhairon Marg) in the east; Willingdon Crescent, Sardar Patel Marg and NH (from Dhaula Kuan to Gurgaon border) in the west; Delhi-Haryana border (from Gurgaon to Badarpur and Yamuna) in the south; and Bhairon Marg, Rajpath (National Stadium to Vijay Chowk), Parliament House, Talkatora Road up to RML Hospital in the north.

Interestingly, the I&B Ministry will not move to CAS in the first phase as Shastri Bhavan — where it is housed — stands north of Rajpath. In fact, the Ministry is likely to get CAS-enabled only in the third phase, as it could well be included in the north zone.

As for Mumbai, the areas west of the mainline of Central Railway Station — between Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) Station and Sion Railway Station — including Navy Nagar in the south, up to the CST Railway Station in the north and bound by the Sion-Bandra Link Road and the Mahim Causeway on the northern side will shift to CAS on the stipulated date.

In Kolkata, the eastern bank of the Hooghly up to the confluence with Tolly's Nalla on the right will be the northern limit; the western bank of Tolly's Nalla — starting from its confluence with Hooghly in the north — will be the eastern boundary. The southern and western limits will be a number of colonies under Behala and Budge Budge police stations, and the confluence of Tolly's Nalla with District 24 Parganas respectively.

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