Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik writes to TRAI; wants regulator, government to protect net neutrality

Bhubaneshwar: Lending his voice to the net neutrality debate, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to the chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, asking the regulator and the telecom ministry to protect the principles behind net neutrality.

It is "not an issue of just the elite," Patnaik wrote. "The growth of the Internet is going to affect each and every one of us, especially the young and dynamic population of the country ... While presently the youth is paying a high cost for inefficient Net connection, I do not see any justification in limiting the ability of new startup companies to reach net users," the chief minister said in his three-page letter to Rahul Khullar.

Earlier this month, Tathagata Satpathy, an MP of Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal, had written to the TRAI chairman in support of net neutrality.

Stating that his government and the Biju Janata Dal were wary of "a future where equal and non-discriminating access of the Internet would be altered", Patnaik advised the government to protect net neutrality.