Following protests that All India Radio's (AIR) regional bulletins were being discontinued in seven cities - Indore, Pune, Dibrugarh, Bhuj, Dharwad, Trichy and Kozhikhode, the Union Information and Broadcasting ministry has "hold back" an order issued by it.
Sources told PTI, Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu told top officials in his ministry to "hold back" an order which related to restructuring of the news units.
It is learnt that apart from several MPs and others who opposed the move, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar as well as Prasar Bharati chairperson A Suryaprakash also expressed serious concerns to Naidu about the order.
"The ministry had decided to move some officers engaged in producing regional news bulletins. As there were widespread concerns, I&B Minister directed top officials to hold it back as if there are no people, how these bulletins would be prepared," a source said.
Yesterday itself, Prasar Bharati had directed officials in the News Service Division (NSD) of the AIR to continue the bulletins after reports suggested that the regional news units in some of the centres were being closed.
According to an advisory issued by DG (News) AIR Sitanshu Kar on the directions of Suryaprakash, regional news units at Indore, Pune, Dibrugarh, Bhuj, Dharwad, Trichy and Kozhikhode would continue with their normal services like bulletins, headlines and programmes as usual.
The advisory also said that correspondents at Allahabad, Pauri, Jalandhar, Patiala, Coimbatore and Kochi will also continue to perform their duties from these locations till personal orders. These were as per the Prasar Bharati chairperson's directions, the advisory added.
There were reports that the decades old news services in some of these towns were to be discontinued by the I&B ministry causing anguish among many of the listeners.
When contacted, a senior I&B ministry official, however, said that the ministry did not want to close the regional news units adding that there was some "misinterpretation".
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