THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prasar Bharati has initiated action against a top Doordarshan Kendra official for ignoring the live coverage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting held on September 24 in Kozhikode.
Raju Varghese, Deputy Director General of Doordarshan Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, has been transferred to Chennai in view of the complaint raised by BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits over the alleged lapses on the part of the DD officials.
Replacing him, R Krishnadas has been appointed as Deputy Director General, the head of administration at Doordarshan Kendra.
It is learnt that programme head M S Dileep also will be transferred to Delhi. Speaking to Express, Krishnadas has confirmed his appointment as the DDG at Thiruvananthapuram.
Express on October 13 had reported that DD officials had ignored the full live coverage of the Prime Minister’s public meeting in Kozhikode when the entire world was waiting to hear from the PM on the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack on an Army camp at Uri, citing that he was attending a political function.
In the wake of the ‘Express’ report, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawahar Sarkar, had sought a detailed report from Doordarshan Director General Supriya Sahoo. However, DDK Thiruvananthapuram chief Raju Varghese took the position that he had no role in deciding the coverage of the PM’s programme. He had said that it was the programme department which was responsible for the decision.
Express had reported that one of the officials had even dared to demand payment for the live coverage of PM’s function. But Raju Varghese had denied this. Following the report, Prasar Bharati had sought to produce the minutes of the meeting held on September 21 to discuss preparations for the coverage.