Value Of Doordarshan, Air: Worth A Guess
How much is Doordarshan and All India Radio jointly worth? One guess: The figure could be a staggering Rs 55,000 crore or maybe just six per cent of this at Rs 3,245 crore. It depends on whos doing the talking.
The Nitish Sengupta Commi-ttee, set up by the government to look into the Prasar Bharti Act, 1990, before it was notified this September, put the total value of the assets at the disposal of DD and AIR at Rs 55,000 crore.
On the other hand, a panel of government officials asked to verify the assets for the Prasar Bharti board has determined the actual progressive capital outlay on the assets since the inception of AIR and DD at only Rs 3,245 crore.
It would be no mean task to pass a decision on this. But then, this is just what the ministry of information and broadcasting has been called upon to do before transferring the media assets to the brand new Prasar Bharti. It is not known how the Nitish Sengupta panel had obtained a figure of Rs 55,000 crore as it is not based on any official document, the six-member committee of government officials, headed by M J Joseph, chief controller of accounts in the ministry of I&B, submitted in its interim report.
However, the man in the eye of storm Nitish Sengupta is quite unfazed. They (the government officials) have calculated the assets at book value, factoring in the depreciation, while we had taken into account not only the hardware but also the property cost at market value, he told Business Standard yesterday.
Sengupta added: For example, the Akashvani Bhawan property on Parliament Street (in New Delhi) is worth crores of rupee at present land prices.
According to government sources, the six-member panel has said that the assets of DD and AIR comprise capital assets, revenue assets and stocks. The capital outlay of DD and AIR has been estimated as on March 31, 1997, as follows: AIRs capital expenditure has been put at Rs 637.79 crore, while capital expenditure from NLF up to March 31, 1997 was at Rs 695.85 crore. The corresponding figures for DD has been put at Rs 676.03 crore and Rs 1234.95 crore, respectively.
The sources said that the six-member panel has also criticised DD and AIR for not keeping relevant records and not providing the panel with all the data. The panel has suggested that before the assets are transferred to Prasar Bharti by the government, DD should provide a list of property assets as was done by AIR. It should also provide a list of revenue assets, value of spares and stores as on September 15, 1997.