Govt plans to increase PTV fee from Rs35 to Rs100 per month

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Making the life of the common man further miserable, the government has planned to the increase the Pakistan Television (PTV) fee from Rs35 to Rs100. The government is likely to collect Rs20 billion from the electricity consumers by increasing the PTV fee. Meanwhile, the PTV Board of Directors approved the Financial Plan during the 232nd meeting on January 8. 92 News has obtained the documents regarding approval of the increase. According to the documents, PTV had started receiving Rs35 per month from the consumers in 2007. An amount of Rs7 billion is collected annually through the fee. The meeting minutes held on January 8, state: “The Managing Director informed the Board that the proposed presentation to the Prime Minister of Pakistan for revision in TV fee has been finalized. The Board advised the chairman to request the Prime Minister to give time for the presentation. The chairman stated that taxation matters are approved by the federal cabinet; therefore, the issue of enhancement in TV fee will be presented before the federal cabinet for approval.” As per the minutes of the Oct 9 meeting, “the Managing Director [PTV] informed the board that TV licence fee is collected from consumers all over the world and in Pakistan TV fee is far less than many developed and neighbouring countries. As much as, TV fee has not been enhanced for the last 10 years despite the fact that prices of all commodities have soared manyfold during the period”. Earlier, the PTV Board of Directors had proposed an increase of Rs25 per month in addition to Rs35 in the fee which is being recovered through electricity bills.