NEW DELHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal has stayed an order of Prasar Bharati asking Member (Personnel) V Shivakumar to vacate his official premises when he retires on 28 October.

The Principal Bench of CAT also stayed the orders issued for recovering from his salary the rentals paid by him over the past several years for the accommodation.

Under Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990, Shivakumar is entitled to get premises on rent and also receive re-imbursement of this rent to a certain extent. Furthermore, any person retiring from government service is entitled to retain the premises for at least two to three months after the date of retirement.

It is alleged in the petition filed before CAT that the action was prompted following his opposition to certain decisions taken in the Prasar Bharati Board.

These directions are stated to be arbitrary and against the Act and norms of service rules.

Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com that Shivakumar had opposed certain decisions taken by Rajiv Takru, who is officiating as chief executive officer of the pubcaster. Takru is also the Additional Secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

NEW DELHI: Even as it denies any delay in implementation of projects, Prasar Bharati has admitted to several projects that were earmarked in the Tenth Plan but are being continued in the Eleventh Plan in both television and radio.

Prasar Bharati sources admitted that three Doordarshan projects and 47 radio stations were still to be completed, though approved in the Tenth Plan.

The sources said that a high-level committee had been constituted under the chairmanship of the chief executive officer for project monitoring and implementation to speed up the work. An Empowered Committee of Finance has also been set up to resolve all issues related to finance.

In addition, Project Monitoring Committee has been set up under the chairmanship of the Director General to strengthen the monitoring mechanism for their projects. Nodal officers have been nominated for the schemes included in the Result Framework Document. A time schedule has been drawn up for procurement and all major activities of a project has been drawn and the progress is being monitored.

In another move, the financial power of the Director General has been restored to Rs 200 million.

The three DD projects include a studio centre at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh for which the studio building has been constructed and major equipment procured. The project will be completed during the current financial year.

For the second project - a High Power Transmitter at Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh - the building has been constructed and orders placed for transmitter equipment and tower. The project will be completed in the year 2012-13.

The third project is the setting up of a very lower power transmitter at Jogindernagar in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which will be completed in 2012.

A total of 149 radio stations had been approved for AIR in November 2007, of which 102 have been completed and work is in progress at the remaining 47 places.

In addition, new FM transmitters have been approved under the 11th Plan (130 under the digitalisation scheme and eight places under the Jammu and Kashmir Special Scheme). Of these, the set-up has been completed in only one place.

The sources admitted that the major reasons for the delays were the delay by the state in offering a suitable site, delay in completion of building because of local problems, and delay in procurement of 10 KW FM transmitters due to litigation.

At present there are 1415 DD transmitters functioning in the country (214 HPT, 812 LPT and 389 VLPT) and these are functioning satisfactorily. However, the sources admitted that delays were also caused in attending to complaints relating to unmanned VLPTs as staff had to be sent from other stations.

The country has 396 AIR transmitters (149 Medium Wave, 193 FM, and 54 Short Wave) which were functional in 252 stations.

Of the 313 cities where the Government has approved FM expansion in the Third Phase, AIR already has FM in 153 or these are in the pipeline. Of the remaining 160 cities, AIR is planning 100 Watt FM transmitters in 50 of the remaining 160 cities in the 11th Plan. In addition, the old transmitters at 34 places were being replaced by new FM transmitters.

A project is also being readied for production facilities at all the 160 cities, for approval under the 12th Plan.
An amount of Rs 1.42 billion had been sanctioned for AIR FM expansion under the Eleventh Plan.

State governments in 19 states had been asked to allocate land free of cost to AIR for setting up the AIR FM channels.

 
NEW DELHI: Even as it denies any delay in implementation of projects, Prasar Bharati has admitted to several projects that were earmarked in the Tenth Plan but are being continued in the Eleventh Plan in both television and radio.

Prasar Bharati sources admitted that three Doordarshan projects and 47 radio stations were still to be completed, though approved in the Tenth Plan.

The sources said that a high-level committee had been constituted under the chairmanship of the chief executive officer for project monitoring and implementation to speed up the work. An Empowered Committee of Finance has also been set up to resolve all issues related to finance.

In addition, Project Monitoring Committee has been set up under the chairmanship of the Director General to strengthen the monitoring mechanism for their projects. Nodal officers have been nominated for the schemes included in the Result Framework Document. A time schedule has been drawn up for procurement and all major activities of a project has been drawn and the progress is being monitored.

In another move, the financial power of the Director General has been restored to Rs 200 million.

The three DD projects include a studio centre at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh for which the studio building has been constructed and major equipment procured. The project will be completed during the current financial year.

For the second project - a High Power Transmitter at Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh - the building has been constructed and orders placed for transmitter equipment and tower. The project will be completed in the year 2012-13.

The third project is the setting up of a very lower power transmitter at Jogindernagar in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which will be completed in 2012.

A total of 149 radio stations had been approved for AIR in November 2007, of which 102 have been completed and work is in progress at the remaining 47 places.

In addition, new FM transmitters have been approved under the 11th Plan (130 under the digitalisation scheme and eight places under the Jammu and Kashmir Special Scheme). Of these, the set-up has been completed in only one place.

The sources admitted that the major reasons for the delays were the delay by the state in offering a suitable site, delay in completion of building because of local problems, and delay in procurement of 10 KW FM transmitters due to litigation.

At present there are 1415 DD transmitters functioning in the country (214 HPT, 812 LPT and 389 VLPT) and these are functioning satisfactorily. However, the sources admitted that delays were also caused in attending to complaints relating to unmanned VLPTs as staff had to be sent from other stations.

The country has 396 AIR transmitters (149 Medium Wave, 193 FM, and 54 Short Wave) which were functional in 252 stations.

Of the 313 cities where the Government has approved FM expansion in the Third Phase, AIR already has FM in 153 or these are in the pipeline. Of the remaining 160 cities, AIR is planning 100 Watt FM transmitters in 50 of the remaining 160 cities in the 11th Plan. In addition, the old transmitters at 34 places were being replaced by new FM transmitters.

A project is also being readied for production facilities at all the 160 cities, for approval under the 12th Plan.
An amount of Rs 1.42 billion had been sanctioned for AIR FM expansion under the Eleventh Plan.

State governments in 19 states had been asked to allocate land free of cost to AIR for setting up the AIR FM channels.

NEW DELHI: The Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati has recommended that the dues from the pubcaster amounting to over Rs 13 billion on account of space segment and spectrum charges as on 31 March 2011 be waived.

Even as it has commenced arbitration proceedings to recover dues from production houses or advertising agencies, Prasar Bharati itself owed a total amount of Rs 13.05 billion as on 31 March to various Ministries and Departments, Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com.

While All India Radio owed Rs 2.11 billion, Doordarshan owed Rs 10.94 billion on account of space segment and spectrum charges.

DD and AIR have to pay Rs 6.47 billion and Rs 1.77 billion as space segment charges respectively.

On the spectrum front, DD and AIR owe Rs 4.47 billion and Rs 324 million.

NEW DELHI: The Parliament was informed today that a case has been registered against the former chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati BS Lalli and a private individual in the case of award of contract by Prasar Bharati to a private company for telecast of the Commonwealth Games last year.

Sports Minister Ajay Maken said today that the case was filed on the basis of the reports filed by the High Level Committee on the Commonwealth Games headed by VK Shunglu.

The Minister also stated that a new Group of Ministers (GoM) has been constituted to examine the replies/comments of the various Ministries/Departments/Government and other executing agencies furnished by them on the observations/ recommendations of the High Level Committee.

A GoM has considered the observations made by the Committee regarding the relationship between the Government and Prasar Bharati and the former CEO and the Prasar Bharati Board.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has already done a comprehensive review of the provisions of the Prasar Bharati Act and has recommended certain amendments to the Act.

NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati has posted a 19.14 per cent jump in revenue to Rs 13.88 billion for the financial year ended March 2011, according to the pubcaster?s sources.

The accounts have not been finally audited for the fiscal in view of various factors including the Commonwealth Games broadcast rights issue.

"The figures reported by the Directorates of All India Radio and Doordarshan add up to a revenue of Rs 13.88 for the fiscal ended March 2011. The final audit has not been done due to various factors including the CWG broadcast rights issue," the sources add.

In FY?10, Prasar Bharati had reported revenue of Rs 11.65 billion.

The operational cost of Doordarshan, however, has climbed to Rs 14.69 billion in 2010-11, compared with Rs 14.21 billion in the year-ago period.

The operational cost includes non-plan expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital plan expenditure. The rise has been mainly due to increase in salary, dearness allowance and grant of benefit of Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme to the employees.

Earlier this year, the Group of Ministers recommended that the Government should meet 100 per cent of the expenses on salaries and allowances of the employees and augmentation/replacement of capital assets.

The remaining items of operating expenditure are to be borne by Prasar Bharati from its revenue earnings.

A total of 8018 personnel would be required for the operation and maintenance of newly sanctioned projects of All India Radio (2183) and Doordarshan (5835), according to sources. This is in addition to 3452 posts lying vacant and considered by Prasar Bharati as priority.

The Group of Ministers has approved a scheme worked out with the Finance Ministry for this purpose.

Earlier this year, the Prasar Bharati Board considered the long-pending Recruitment Rules for 196 cadres of employees in Prasar Bharati for forwarding to Government. Non-existence of these rules ever since Prasar Bharati came into being in 1997 was a major reason for the huge backlog in filling up the vacancies and making vital appointments, something which has come under heavy criticism in Parliamentary Committees.