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NEW
DELHI: Prasar Bharati, which is to play the role of host broadcaster
for the Commonwealth Games next year, is presently facing
a manpower shortage and needs over 18,000 personnel to fill
existing vacancies and for additional projects.
There
are 11,498 vacancies against a total of 48,173 sanctioned
posts in All India Radio and Doordarshan. In addition, the
pubcaster needs 6,934 additional staff for projects.
In
the programming wing, which has a current strength of 10,679,
there are 3746 vacant posts and a need for an additional 1417
persons. The news wing has a sanctioned staff strength of
393 with 94 vacancies and nine persons needed for projects.
The
engineering wing has a strength of 18,262 and needs 3998 and
3731 to fill in the sanctioned vacant posts and for additional
projects. The Civil Construction wing has a strength of 1286
against a sanctioned quota of 1457, leaving the need to fill
up 171 vacancies.
Similarly,
the administrative wing has a staff strength of 17,382 in
headquarters and AIR stations and DD Kendras, needing 3489
persons to fill vacant posts and another 1777 for projects.
Minister
of State for Information and Broadcasting C M Jatua said in
Parliament that steps are being taken by the government to
fill these vacancies, but did not give details.
Meanwhile,
a Parliamentary Committee in a strongly-worded report in February
this year regretted that no recruitment has been made in the
Indian Broadcasting (Programme) Service, started in 1990 to
train a separate cadre of employees for All India Radio and
Doordarshan.
The
Government had announced that all Central Government employees
recruited for Akashvani or Doordarshan until 5 October 2007
are to be deemed as on deputation with effect from April 2000
until their retirement, affecting around 38,000 employees.
While
taking note of this decision, the 30-member Committee on Empowerment
of Women said the Government could not be absolved of the
delay in taking a final decision in the matter. It also recommended
that the recruitment rules and service conditions of Prasar
Bharati's own employees should be finalised and the confusions,
if any, pertaining to the Government employees on deemed deputation
to the Corporation be sorted out within three months and the
report sent to the Committee.
The
Committee also strongly criticised the Government for not
filling posts against sanctioned strength in Prasar Bharati,
noting that it "is extremely unhappy that a large number
of creative young women and men are denied the chance to be
part of the public broadcasting service in the country."
It
was observed that there was a shortage of 44.8 per cent of
the sanctioned strength in group 'A' and about 40 per cent
in Group 'B' in Doordarshan, and 58.8 per cent of the posts
in Group 'A' were vacant in All India Radio. As many as 4629
posts in Doordarshan and 6433 posts in All India Radio remain
unfilled.
Recruitment
to the post of programme executives was last made 18 years
earlier in 1991. "The case is no different in various
other categories of AIR and Doordarshan," the Committee
observed.
The
Committee therefore wanted the pubcaster to "pull up
its socks and start the recruitment process at the earliest."
It
said it was "astonished that some important posts in
the Prasar Bharati Board like those of Director General of
Doordarshan and DG of AIR are lying vacant for about two years.
These should be filled without any further delay."
It
noted that Doordarshan had 1353 women employees out of a total
of 17079 employees, while AIR had 1854 women out of a total
of 22296 employees. The percentage of women in Group 'A' and
'B' was 25 and 19 per cent respectively in Doordarshan, and
14 and 15 per cent in AIR.
It
was 'disheartening' to note that some UPSC-recruited programme
executives had remained in the same post without a single
promotion for over 20 years. Promotions were unnecessarily
delayed and this was something unheard of in the Government.
The Committee was not satisfied with the reasoning of the
Government about cases pending in courts etc. and was "extremely
disappointed about the sorry state of affairs" which
had hampered the career prospects of a large number of talented
people. Women employees were also discriminated against in
terms of promotions, it noted.
The
Committee held Prasar Bharati guilty of unfair practices in
not regularising and not giving adequate remuneration to around
680 employees in Doordarshan and 2200 in All India Radio who
had been working as casual employees for up to 15 years in
different capacities including news editors and news readers.
Also
Read:
Prasar
Bharati staff hired till oct 2007 to be treated as deemed
deputation employees
Prasar
Bharati under revenue pressure
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