With the Finance Ministry mulling over the issue of financial restructuring of Prasar Bharti, a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) that will also decide on granting Central Government employee status to the staff of the public broadcaster has been delayed.
The GoM was to meet on August 22 to take a decision on granting Central government employee status to Prasar Bharati employees, and the public broadcaster's financial restructuring, but was cancelled at the eleventh hour.
Officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed Doordarshan and All India Radio employees that I&B Minister P R Dasmunsi wanted to meet Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Finance Minister P Chidambaram individually to discuss the two key issues before the GoM could be convened.
No fresh date for the meeting has been announced with the finance ministry still considering the pros and cons of financially restructuring Prasar Bharati, sources said.
Prasar Bharati receives grant-in-aid from the I&B Ministry annually to the tune of around Rs 1,000 crore while it manages the rest of its expenses through internal generation.
Once the financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati done, it would be able to manage its funds independently, and its reliance on the ministry's aid would lessen.
The issue of granting Central government employee status to DD and AIR employees has been a long pending one.
With the government's tenure reaching its fag end, the August 22 GoM was considered as a significant.
Dasmunsi had assured Prasar Bharati 40,000 employees in June this year that the issue would be resolved in the GoM, which would probably be the last one of the UPA government.