Sheekha Bureau
Port Blair, Apr 17: Illegal supply of DTH equipments all over Andaman and Nicobar Islands is presently considered as the most lucrative business in these Islands. With time several small players have become super active but a few are making fortune even without registering the business or following any GST norms.
Most of the people who are at present having DTH connections in Andaman from a particular company are unaware of the fact that the DTH equipments and connections were purchased from Mainland India by a few prominent agents by giving false KYC (Know Your Customer), which is an illegal act.
Moreover all the businesses are regulated all over India through a proper distribution and dealership network so that flow of money can be cross checked at any point of time but in this case a few agents are purchasing hundreds of equipments directly from some shops in mainland with forged documents and selling those equipments in Andaman without any registration, which is again an illegal act.
The worst sufferers are the customers who are paying Rs. 4000 to Rs 5000 for these connections and are not getting even half of the channels. In many cases they are not getting Call Centre support of the company as the KYC has some other name.
As per a rough estimate Andaman and Nicobar Islands have already got nearly 2000 DTH connections from un-registered persons. These connections cost nearly Rs. 1800 in mainland India but in Andaman these connection cost Rs. 4000 to Rs. 5000. Considering a profit of Rs. 2000 in every deal, this entire illegal business has a value of Rs. 2000 X 2000 = nearly Rs. 40 lakhs of profit, in just one or two years. The question is where are norms for registration of business? Where are the billing details? What about GST registration and GST implications?
When Andaman Sheekha called the call centre of the private DTH operator to know the facts the staffs of Call Center mentioned clearly that one can very well take his own equipment to Andaman after purchasing the same from Mainland but in KYC it has to be mentioned and also the company do not give any support in Andaman.
It is learnt that a few agents have targeted entire Nicobar District and supplied good amount of DTH equipments in Nicobar District but again, the question arises that how these people without proper business registration entered inside Tribal Islands.
However, as per recent development a few alert customers have called the call centre of DTH and got their equipments directly and a few have purchased their own equipment directly from Mainland India but what about most of the other equipments against which fake KYC were submitted.
The major questions are when customers are paying heavily for DTH connection why some agents are looting them and supplying them with equipment with false KYC? When every citizen is paying GST everyday in every deal, why these illegal agents are immune to GST implications? Isn’t it a national loss?
Atleast the Police Department must inquire this matter and find out who is looting public by charging astronomical high rate for DTH Device and under which registration this business is carried out. If this business is legal then the Administration must clarify that why public are forced to pay double and triple amount for these equipments.
