Fund paucity hits NE DDKs
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy- TNN
Guwahati, July 23 2016 :
Production of programmes
across 12 Doordarshan Ken-
dras in the Northeast has been
hit due to lack of funds from
Prasar Bharati.
Four months into the new
financial year, Prasar Bharati
is yet to allocate funds under
the professional and special
services head to the 12 Ken-
dras in the region, said offi-
cial sources.
"This (lack of
funds) is a perennial prob-
lem," a source said and added
that kendras in other parts of
the country received funds on
time.
"The Doordarshan Ken-
dras of the Northeast have
been suffering as they are not
in a position to produce (re-
cord) programmes due to
paucity of funds.
An extraor-
dinary situation prevails here.
The employees are totally de-
moralized.
They have been
rendered almost jobless due
to lack of programmes to pro-
duce," the source said.
Under the professional and
special services head, pay-
ments are made to artists of
the region who are dependent
on Doordarshan for show-
casing their talent.
"News bulletins are aired
for half an hour but recorded
programmes have maximum
air-time.
The programme pro-
duction centre (northeast) of Doordarshan runs a 24-hour satellite channel with
contribution from other Kendras of the region.
Due to lack of
funds, all the Kendras have stopped producing (recording) pro-
grammes and the same programmes are repeated again and again,"
the source added.
The funds crunch has also hit production of programmes
to showcase different Government schemes and initiatives.
Further, with low cash flow, liabilities of the Kendras keep
mounting.
Incidentally, three Kendras of the region � the programme
production centre (northeast) of Doordarshan in Guwahati, the
Doordarshan Kendra, Guwahati, and the Doordarshan Kendra,
Dibrugarh � were among 11 of 64 DD Kendras in the
country which were recently felicitated by the DD directorate
for exceeding the revenue target.