Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 18: The radio and TV Artists of the State held a protest demonstration at Exhibition Ground here today against the failure of Prasar Bharti for stopping commissioned programmes by Kashir channel for years together.
The spokespersons of the approved artists of TV and Radio Shahzad Rasool and Janak Khajuria said that the lives of artists have been turned into hell due to callousness of the Prasar Bharti authorities.
The protestors said that their services were hired by DDKs of Srinagar, Jammu and Ladakh for years together for the production of in house programmes but the payments of these programmes have not been paid since 2008 with the result some of the artists who are totally dependent on this profession for their livelihood are at the verge of starvation.
The protestors said that they have put in their sincere efforts to participate in these programme as per the highest standards of DD. And in some cases the financial aspects are huge lone form financial institutions to provide the various facilities to DDK Srinagar and Jammu required for the production of these in house serials and programmes.
They said the authorities of DD Srianagar and Jammu as well as New Delhi are not paying heed to their pleas and problems and due to their ill attitude the life of artists has been turned into a hell. They said that the artists are not only at the verge of starvation but in some cases their wards have been expelled from schools as the parents were unable to pay the school fee.
They said the Kashir Channel has been defunct and the commission of programmes has been stopped many years ago and the viewers of DD are being forced to watch the repeated programmes. This resulted into decrease in viewership which has reached almost to nil. This is a sinister design of slow poising the artists and freelancers of the State, they added.
They said that our efforts to seek justice are being sabotaged by some hidden lobby and hence the artists have decided to highlight the plight through Nukud plays.
Strongly advocating for 24×7 hrs Duggar Channel they said their plea has gone unheard for years together in this regard. They said Gujjar Channel deserves priority consideration from GoI.
Besides the protestors demanded restoration of work of DD Kashir Channel, DDK Srinagar, DDK Jammu and DDK Ladakh and clearance of all pending backlog payments of all the regions of the State immediately.
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