| NEW
DELHI: Prasar Bharati is bracing itself to meet major protests from various cadres
on issues such as cadre review for engineering employees to the inordinate delay
and failure in promoting the direct recruit cadre officers to higher posts as
directed by Courts more than five years back. The
Association of Radio & Television Engineering Employees (ARTEE) held a lunch
hour gate meeting last week as the first leg of its protracted agitation on a
7-point charter including One Pay for One Cadre amongst subordinate Engineering
cadres (from Helper to Assistant Engineer) in AIR and Doordarshan.
After
another Lunch Hour gate meeting at all stations throughout the Country on 8 July,
there will be a Day long Dharna on 22 July from 10 am to 4 pm at all capital stations.
The next phase of agitation programme will be decided in the National Convention
of this Association proposed to be held on 2, 3 and 4 August at Thiruvananthapuram.
Meanwhile,
hundreds of Direct Recruit Programme officers working in the two public service
broadcasters, AIR and Doordarshan, are to launch a nationwide peaceful sit in
protest dharna from 2 July. In
a notice to the I&B Minister, Secretary I&B and Chief Executive Prasar
Bharati, the employees say they are deeply anguished over the inordinate delay
and failure on the part of the Ministry and department in promoting the cadre
officers to higher posts. A
spokesperson of the Joint forum of the Association of the UPSC Recruited Programme
Officers of AIR and Doordarshan (AUPO) and Programme Staff Welfare Association
(PSWA) - the two Associations spearheading the protest - said there is an unprecedented
situation prevailing in the two organisations where hundreds of programme officers
recruited by the Union Public Service Commission through national level selections
are languishing for 25-28 years in their entry level posts without receiving a
single promotion in their entire career. The
associations pointed out that this is directly linked to a full-blown recruitment
and promotion scam in the organisations unearthed through RTI applications recently.
The documents obtained indicate a large number of contractual persons have been
inducted into the regular programme Cadre by giving short shift to the statutory
constitutional provisions, a 1982 decision of the Union Cabinet, the educational
and eligibility criteria etc prescribed in the recruitment rules. These illegal
appointees have been given further multiple promotions and today occupy very senior
positions in the organisations. One of them even went up to holding the position
of the director general. Pointing
to collusion, the associations have demanded a fast track inquiry into the scam
and disciplinary proceedings against those involved, pending the final removal
of the illegal inductees from the cadre they have urged for withdrawal of all
administrative powers from these illegal officers as a minimum confidence building
measure. | 
