Prasar Bharati board holds meeting, members 'express concern'

Members of the Prasar Bharati Board were today learnt to have expressed concern over the financial situation of the broadcaster and were keen that the government continued its financial support to it for meeting salary expenses, according to a source.
In its board meeting today, the members discussed the financial position of the Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordarshan and All India Radio, and expressed concern over it, the source said.
Ahead of the Budget, the members were keen that the government continued with its financial support to the broadcaster and not reduce the salary budget, the source added.
The meeting was presided over by A Surya Prakash, who was last month re-appointed as the chairman of the Prasar Bharati board. This was the first board meeting after his re- appointment.

Currently, the government is providing 100 per cent salary support to Prasar Bharati and 'plan' grant for creation of capital assets and content development.
An audit of Prasar Bharati's manpower was also expected to be completed in the current fiscal.
This came in the backdrop of the Sam Pitroda Committee in its report January 2014, recommending a comprehensive manpower audit to map Prasar Bharati's staff requirement while noting that it has a workforce which is much bigger in size as compared to public broadcasters in other countries.