After Prasar Bharati chief hit out at govt, CEO says had agreed not to air internal issues

Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati (file) | Graphic Design by Siddhant Gupta

Chairman Surya Prakash spoke out against the I&B ministry on autonomy, but CEO Vempati says board had agreed not to speak to the press about internal issues.

New Delhi: Launching a veiled attack on the chairman of Prasar Bharati, who has gone public over issues of autonomy, the CEO of the public broadcaster has said that board resolutions caution against speaking out to the press on “internal issues”.

“In the 135th board meeting of Prasar Bharati held on 16th May 2016, the board had resolved that members should avoid going to the press for airing their views on various internal issues of Prasar Bharati,” CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati told ThePrint when reached for his take on the tussle between the broadcaster and the information and broadcasting ministry.

Over the last few days, Prasar Bharati chairman A. Surya Prakash has spoken out strongly against the ministry, questioned some of the orders it has issued, and alleged that these impinge on the autonomy of the public broadcaster.

Prakash has also expressed reservations about a ministry directive to have the I&B secretary review the Prasar Bharati CEO’s performance.

Vempati cited the board resolution and said it would therefore “not be appropriate” for him to say anything on the controversy. Any communication on behalf Prasar Bharati would be done through an official statement, he added.

Sources said Vempati and Prakash appear to be on different pages on certain issues. While Prakash has raised major concerns over the delay by the ministry in release of funds to the organisation, the CEO took to Twitter to point out that considerable funds were released by the ministry.

Noticed reports in sections of media on non-disbursal of salaries to DD & AIR staff. Rs 208 cr towards salaries were released on the 28th Feb 2018. Attempts to create panic malafide. PB has so far received Rs 1989 crores from MIB as grants-in-aid for salaries during FY2017-18.

— Shashi S Vempati (@shashidigital) March 4, 2018

The CEO also made it clear that he was quite satisfied with the pace of progress in the organisation and that the same could not have been achieved “without the support of the board and the ministry”.

The IIT Bombay alumnus, who worked at IT giant Infosys for more than 16 years, was CEO of news portal Niti Central before he was appointed CEO of Prasar Bharati in June 2017. He was also closely associated with the BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabha campaign.

Reacting to recent remarks by I&B minister Smriti Irani on the need for Doordarshan to improve its content and quality, the CEO said the task is cut out for them.

“I am quite satisfied with the progress we have made on rationalising our analog terrestrial broadcasting infrastructure and on the proposed manpower audit of Prasar Bharati,” he said.

“This progress could not have been possible without the support of the board and the ministry. We absolutely have our task cut out on the content front to improve quality, connect with the youth and make an impact.”