Parikshit Pathak, a medical representative of Dhanbad, prefers to unwind after a long day in the field by watching his favourite television programmes.

But for 10 days, he is unable to do so as he is yet to get a set-top box as mandated by the government for complete digitisation of cable television.

Though the last date of phase-III of digitisation was December 31, 2015, local cable operators in Dhanbad continued to provide analogue services for three-four days.

But on January 4, Dhanbad deputy commissioner gave strict instructions to stop such telecast besides serving showcause notices to some of the cable operators, paving the way for complete digitisation.

The local cable operators, however, are unable to provide set-top boxes due to a shortage in supply. Inadequate publicity about the digitisation process among cable operators and confusion among the viewers over its strict implementation added to the woes.

There are even complaints of overcharging against the cable operators for the set-top boxes.

A resident of Jharudih, Ashok Sharma, said he had applied for a set-top box last week. "But I am yet to get one despite paying Rs 1,400 in advance. Now my cable operator is passing the buck to the multi-system operators (MSOs) for short supply of the boxes," said Sharma.

Notably, over a thousand cable operators of Dhanbad are associated with four MSOs - SITI Cable, Den Networks, Manthan Broadband Services Pvt. Ltd and GTPL-KCBPL - who provide the set-top boxes.

Marketing executive of SITI Cable Joydeep Mukherjee said they had provided over 30,000 set-top boxes to 125 cable operators. "We request the viewers to contact us directly at our office if they face difficulty in getting a box or have any complaint regarding overcharging. The high definition box is available for Rs 3,000 plus installation charges and the standard definition one is priced at Rs 1,200 plus installation charges," said Mukherjee.