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NT Bureau
Chennai, Jan 22:

        The recent chaos arising out of slashing a number of free-to-air cable TV channels has bewildered residents of Kilpauk Most of the Hindi- speaking community are fuming over this move as the channels delinked included some Hindi one and a few English ones.

        'I don't have any better option as my favorite channel Sahara has been barred from telecast. Now, I have been forced to watch the programmes mostly unfamiliar to me, ' said Ram Varma, a resident.

        Apart from Sahara, the other delinked channels include Sony Pictures, Pogo, Disney and Animax. The residents also allege that already the cable operators charge Rs 100 per month as monthly rental for cable is above the government- fixed rate of Rs77.

        'It is unfair that even after scrapping the said channels the same fee is being collected by the cable operators,' said Ravi, a businessman.

        It is the children who suffer a lot as most of the children prefer cartoon channels. 'The only other option for us to view these slashed channels is to shell out a huge amount to fix a set-top box', said many people.

        President of Kilpauk Welfare Association Prakash Lulla said the cable operators charge around Rs 300 every month making it hard to bear the burden. 'Our hardship prolongs as it is very difficult to pay such a huge amount every month apart from spending for a new set- top box,' he added.

        When News Today contacted a cable operator, he said on condition of anonymity that they collect the amount only in accordance with the norms set by TRAI. Under the new schemes introduced the number of channels would vary depending on the package one chooses.