DD draws flak on Kashir Channel bungling
High Court calls records, State Govt wants shifting of DD Kashir to Srinagar

AHMED ALI FAYYAZ

SRINAGAR, Jan 17: Drawing flak from a many corners on the largescale bungling in commissioning of programmes for ‘Kashir Channel’, Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation of India has appointed a private consultant to investigate how scores of people having no profile in audio-visual media had been empanelled as ‘private producers’ and subsequently allotted high budget programmes by Doordarshan. Meanwhile, Jammu & Kashmir High Court has directed DD authorities to place entire record related to the allottees before it by the end of January and Government of Jammu & Kashmir has urged Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to shift headquarters of DD Kashir from New Delhi to Srinagar.

Informed sources revealed to Early Times that both, the State as well as the Central government, have taken cognizance of largescale irregularities committed in recent commissioning of programmes for DD Kashir and started various initiatives to retrieve the faith of bona fide private producers in the national broadcaster. According to these sources, Ministry of I&B and Prasar Bharti are now shocked over the unprecedented bungling allegedly manipulated by Director General of Doordarshan, Aruna Sharma, and DDG incharge Kashir Channel, Ananya Banerjee, in league with a select group of DD officials and touts.

Even as Prasar Bharti and DD mandarins had conveniently remained mute spectators to the shocking irregularities reported by media in Jammu & Kashmir, Ministry of I&B has reportedly taken serious note of the bungling reported by a leading national daily last week. New Delhi’s largest circulated newspaper, Hindustan Times, had reported how even the cooks of influential private producers, as also ordinary Angan Wari workers and drivers, had been allotted the highest category programmes while as eminent producers with more than 25 years of standing in making films and television programmes had been either fully ignored or given peanuts.

Sources said that a flurry of activity was witnessed on Friday last as CEO Prasar Bharti took an urgent meeting with the officials and desired necessary investigation and remedial measures to restore the faith of genuine private producers. These sources, believed to be privy to the communication between Mandi House and Shastri Bhawan, said that CEO, B S lalli, had explained to Minister incharge, Ambika Soni, that he was neither part of the commissioning process nor duly informed about the allegations of irregularities reported by media and complained by over 40 Srinagar and Jammu-based private producers. He has reportedly argued that DD’s DG and DDG Kashir Channel be held accountable, asked to streamline the process and explain their position in the matter.

Significantly, in addition to separate inquiries by a central intelligence agency and an in-house probe conducted by Ms Supriya Sahu, holding the rank of a Director in I&B Ministry, Government has also engaged a private consultancy to find as to how dozens of the relatives of DD officials and certain private producers—including their cooks, drivers and office boys---had been not only empanelled as private producers but also placed in the highest category of prominent producers like Zamir Ashai, Farooq Masoodi and Mohiuddin Mirza in the final stage of the allotment of programmes. The consultant has been reportedly asked to investigate why the selection committee, working under DG and DDG of Kashir Channel, had marginalized senior producers of more than 25 years of association with DD, by way of either giving them the charity of peanuts or by completely ignoring them.

Meanwhile, in a quick sequence of related developments, Government of Jammu & Kashmir has taken cognizance of the increasingly growing unrest among the community of bona fide and senior filmmakers ad freelance private producers. In a communication to the Minister incharge I&B, Government has reportedly urged shifting of the DD Kashir headquarters from New Delhi to Srinagar. Srinagar and Jammu-based producers have complained that DD authorities forced nearly 800 J&K-based producers to spend over Rs 6 Crore on their shuttling between the state and the Union capital in connection with personal presentation etcetera. Yet another argument was that continuing the DD Kashir headquarters in New Delhi had been sending a wrong signal that Government of India had no place and security for a Kashmir-related TV channel in Srinagar.

Orders of the Union Ministry of I&B for shifting of DD Kashir back to Srinagar have not been implemented in the last 10 years as the officials and producers, who have allegedly developed huge vested interest, have successfully blocked the process with one or the other fallacious argument.

Here in Srinagar, J&K High Court has admitted a writ petition of nearly 40 private producers and issued a notice in the matter. Mr Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir has directed Doordarshan and Prasar Bharti to place records related to the allottee producers and their programmes before him on the next date of hearing later this month.

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