CM recommends Centre to excused police from spectrum charges
Posted on: 26/Dec/2015 9:43:53 AM
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has asked the Centre to excused State Police departments from payment of spectrum charges and waive Rs. 140.83 crore in charges and late fee for Tamil Nadu.
Inside her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ms. Jayalalithaa said State governments were by now facing financial constraints in modernising and upgrading police force after the Centre substantially reduced its aid for such schemes.
Clearing up in detail, she said the Tamil Nadu police had different networks of communication using different frequencies of the spectrum. There was a dedicated an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communication network for the Security Branch, Very High Frequency (VHF) communication network within each district and Terrestrial Trunking Radio (TETRA) digital communication networks in select cities.
A microwave network for voice communication between District Headquarters and State Headquarters and a High Frequency (HF) communication network for use during the monsoon period and as an emergency backup during natural calamities were being used by the State government. The frequencies for these communication networks were allotted by the Wireless Planning and Co-ordination Wing (WPC) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
State Police Departments were paying a insignificant licence fee of Rs.100 per set. Spectrum charges including licence fees for each communication set and royalty charges for the use of frequency by wireless sets were being levied from June 1, 2004 even on the Police Departments, she pointed out.
The Tamil Nadu government has been raising the issue since 2005. In spite of the repeated request of waivers, the spectrum charges were again increased on April 1, 2012. She said, The annual spectrum charges payable by Tamil Nadu now amount to Rs.13 crore. Any financial burden on the use of modern technology in policing is difficult for State governments to meet.
The Ministry of ICT continued to charge 2 per cent per month as late fees for delayed remittance of spectrum charges. In the meantime, the Ministry of Home Affairs has indicated that the request for any fresh assignments or issue of operating licenses would not be considered till the full payment of spectrum charges was made, the Chief Minister said.
Since on August 14, 2014, the spectrum charges payable for frequencies allotted to the Tamil Nadu Police amounted to Rs.140.83 crore, inclusive of late fee, she said, asking the Centre to revisit the issue of levying spectrum charges on the Police Radio Network, which was an ill advised move of the previous UPA government.
