MNS uprooting cable ducts of Gujarat-based company

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat has already benefitted from the shifting of international financial services centres and the business of ports from Mumbai and Maharashtra. Now it is eyeing the private television cable operating industry, a multi-crore business in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra. The Gujarat Television Private Ltd (GTPL) has spread its business not only to Mumbai, but other parts of Western Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has begun a protest in response, uprooting the cable ducts installed by GTPL. MNS has also threatened to stop its functioning in Maharashtra.

The cable wing of MNS held a meeting with operators in Mumbai to discuss a strategy on how to counter the low prices offered by GTPL to its users in Maharashtra. While the city cable operators charge between Rs 200 to Rs 400 as monthly fees, GTPL is offering its services at almost half the rate.

“As GTPL has encroached on Maharashtra’s territory, cable operators fear for their business,” said Tushar Aphale, an MNS official, who is also general secretary of the Maharashtra Navnirman Cable Sena. “GTPL seems to have an agenda of killing the business of cable operators in Maharashtra. We will strike down their plan. We have resolved to put our strength behind the worried cable operators,” said Aphale.

He added that GTPL has not only encroached on the business of cable operators from Mumbai but have also spread out in parts of Western Maharashtra like Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara. "The GTPL will grab the business of small operators and ultimately it will end the industry on which more than 50 lakh families are dependent," said Aphale.

Aphale said MNS has received good response from cable operators not just in Maharashtra but also from other states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “Cable operators are counting on Raj Thackeray to stand firmly by their side,” he said. GTPL Hathway Limited, incorporated in 2006, is a Gujaratbased Multi System Operator (MSO), offering cable television and broadband services.

It provides digital cable television services in 169 towns across India. It is looking for a valuation of Rs 1,915 crore through its recently-issued IPO.

The MNS is looking to create a network of the 40,000 cable operators in Maharashtra. It believes they will help the party in the legislative assembly elections next year.

The MNS has already expressed its opposition to vital infrastructure projects such as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and the Thane-Vadodara Expressway, alleging these will be more beneficial to Gujarat than Maharashtra.

"The GTPL will grab the business of small operators and ultimately it will end the industry on which more than 50 lakh families are dependent TUSHAR APHALE, General Secy of Maharashtra Navnirman Cable Sena