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NEW
DELHI: The Group of Ministers is to meet early next month
to take a final decision about giving an option to the approximately
40,000 employees of Prasar Bharati to remain with the broadcaster
or go back to the Government.
Information
and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com
that a final decision has to be taken on the issue by August,
in keeping with directions of the Supreme Court which had
in early February asked the government to take a final view
within six months.
Consequently,
the matter had been referred to a high-level Committee of
Officers which is understood to have given its report to the
Group of Ministers set up to guide Prasar Bharati
Interestingly,
a recent survey showed that 98 per cent of the employees in
Delhi and Bangalore want to return to Government.
Successive
heads of Prasar Bharati have been giving different deadlines
for completing the work of preparing the rules and regulations
for the almost 100 categories of employees in the public broadcaster
and present Chief Executive Officer B S Lalli had put June
as the deadline.
However,
the Supreme Court stepped in and directed the broadcaster
to complete the work by early August.
Section
11 of the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 is clear that an option
would be given to the employees to opt to remain with the
broadcaster or go back to the Government.
Reacting
to the survey, Mr Lalli had told indiantelevision.com last
month that this was no surprise since there were certain guarantees
and perks in a government job which gave a sense of security
to the employees. But he said that the broadcaster would be
able to give similar security once the work of preparing the
rules and guidelines for each cadre of employees was completed.
The
opinion poll conducted by Akashdarshan Backward Classes Employees
Association (ABCEA) on May Day said the employees cited ‘extreme
dissatisfaction’ with their working conditions, uncertainty
and poor career prospects as reasons for their wanting to
return to government service. A total of 664 programme staff
including 94 from Bangalore responded to the opinion poll.
The views of some retired employees of the public broadcaster
were also elicited.
Mr
Lalli said in answer to a question that though the salaries
were largely being borne by the Government from non-plan expenditure,
Prasar Bharati was contributing around Rs 3000 million for
this from its own resources.
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