Prasar Bharati signs MoU with I&B Ministry for release of funds

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry and Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR), have inked an MoU required for the release of financial allocation to the broadcaster, a source said today.

The MoU was signed between the broadcaster and the ministry in the last week of May, the source added.

Autonomous bodies getting grants-in-aid from the government are required to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry concerned for the release of the financial allocations.

Besides Prasar Bharati, the ministry has also signed MoUs with Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in the last week of May, the source added.

In April, the ministry released Rs 365 crore to Prasar Bharati after it signed the MoU following months of standoff between the two sides on various contentious issues.

The ministry releases an amount of around Rs 200 crore to Prasar Bharati every month and a major share of it goes to payment of salaries.

The I and B Ministry had earlier released Rs 1,989 crore to Prasar Bharati as grants-in-aid for payment of salaries to its employees.

In early March, Prasar Bharati CEO S S Vempati, in response to media reports, had said that Rs 208 crore released by the public broadcaster towards payment of salaries to its staff on February 28 were from its own reserves.

Reacting to the news report, the ministry had issued a statement saying that the Prasar Bharati had not signed an MoU as required by autonomous bodies for getting grants-in-aid.