Only 100 professionals among DD’s 5000 “private producers”

What happened to Rs 1000 Cr Delhi sent for fighting Pakistan’s propaganda?

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Jun 2: Total number of genuine private producers and media professionals has been between 50 to 100 even as successive heads of Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) Srinagar and DD Kashir recognized as many as 5,000 people as “producers” in the last 20 years. It became a free-for-all charity when vested interests discovered that New Delhi was pumping tons of the taxpayers’ money in the name of “fighting Pakistan’s propaganda on Kashmir”. Soon the heads of the two channels realized that there was absolutely no accountability. Result was a large scale loot-and-scoot. New Delhi conveniently shut her eyes to rampant loot of the state exchequer, underplaying everything under the smokescreen of “national interest”.

It was only when complaints heaped up that Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), DD’s in-house vigilance and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) swung into action from time to time. Irregularities and embezzlements were established in almost all the complaints but nobody was ever punished. Officials in Prasar Bharti, DD, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting besides in union Ministry of Home Affairs provided broad daylight protection and patronage to their protégés in Srinagar. “Taking action” they invariably argued “would demoralize our information warriors”. For an open secret, this loot of public exchequer was perpetuated for money---and other considerations.

While drawing over 95 percent of the allocation on account of making programmes on dogs and drains of Valley, two-odd propaganda programmes were genuinely commissioned to the media organisation ANI. Propaganda programmes claimed to have been acquired from hundreds of “private producers” never saw the light of the day.

DD’s one-odd propaganda segment was produced by News Editor Bashir Malik for over 15 years but he too stopped it the day Omar Abdullah’s government ignored him in the matter of State Award. Malik uselessly complained to officials and politicians in New Delhi that the award he alone deserved was “mercilessly” given away to the journalists who, according to him, had been part and parcel of ISI’s and Hurriyat’s propaganda machinery for 20 years. He specifically mentioned the names of a hardline separatist leader’s son-in-law and some others belonging to pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami background. Pitiably, nobody from Delhi to Srinagar bothered to even console India’s only information warrior in J&K.

Beneficiaries of the loot-and-scoot were later introduced as “national heroes” by their mentors in New Delhi. Literally sprinkling pepper dust in the eyes of millions of people, these people managed to grab not only the lion’s share of the commissioned programmes in DD Kashir but also usurped 100 percent of the programmes directly sponsored by MHA. Allottees of such mega serials included rabidly anti-Indian elements and even regular terrorist cadres who, for years, harassed, kidnapped, tortured and humiliated DD’s and AIR’s employees as well as genuine media professionals for their crime of “strengthening Indian occupation on J&K”.

A number of DD’s and AIR’s officials, who were identified as “threat to national security” and “men of doubtful integrity” on the basis of serious complaints and intelligence reports, were shifted from J&K to other states. However, with the intervention of their organizational and political mentors, they all managed to return to Srinagar or Jammu within short period. Even those, whose family members, were identified as operators of militant and separatist outfits, were brought back to Srinagar, installed on key positions and given a free hand to embezzle funds worth Crores of Rupees.

Recently removed CEO of Prasar Bharti, B S Lalli, and DG of Doordarshan, Aruna Sharma, now facing serious charges of corruption in the infamous Common Wealth Games scam, protected their puppets in Srinagar openly for material considerations.

According to insiders, cumulative liabilities at DDK Srinagar have heaped up to Rs 30 Crore in the last two years alone notwithstanding liquidations to the tune of Rs 10 Crore. These sources insist that a group of three DD officials have got Director’s approval on over 200 proposal files assigned to a select group of six to ten “private producers” under the infamous “in-house” category. “It has added the liability of around Rs 5 Crore in just two months”, revealed an insider who insisted that the files were approved against cash payment of bribes ranging between Rs 2 to 4 Lakh each programme. Relatives of so-called “private producers”, including fake names and regular government employees, are being shown as facility providers and cheques are finally drawn in their names.

While the genuine media professionals pay 10 percent of the sanctioned budget as the “commission” in advance, fake private producers are fleeced to the tune of 40 to 50 percent. Most of their substandard programmes are telecast on regular basis from 10.00 pm to 6.00 a.m so as to hide them from local critics. Professional producers and artists, who have been associated with Dooradrshan through thick and thin in the last over 30 years, including the big names like Zamir Ashai, Bashir Dada, Mudassar Nehvi and Mushtaq Ali, have been given just peanuts. Eminent artists like Abdul Rasheed Farash, who died recently, and Jai Kishori, whose husband passed away in total helplessness in Delhi, were mercilessly tortured.

Obviously, the result is that the medium that had been assigned with building faith of the alienated Kashmiris in the Indian democratic system and institutions, has done exactly the reverse. International award winners like Abir Bazaz and Syed Fayyaz, have never entered DD premises, let alone submitting a proposal or seeking an assignment. Many of the Valley’s young producers, mostly created by MERC of University of Kashmir, JNU, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi see no prospects for themselves with DDK Srinagar and DD Kashir, though a number of them worked impressively with BBC, National Geographic and other international media organizations.

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