Till a month ago Doordarshan’s Northeast channel, headquartered in Guwahati, was known more for a board placed outside its office than for its programmes. The board’s content: the ‘‘official’’ cut/commission rate for clearing programmes for the channel. The un-official rate card was based on the programmes’ prime-time placement and varied between 20 and 30 per cent of the total fee required for a programme. If, for instance a programme demanded a telecast fee of Rs 3 lakh, 20 per cent of it went directly to the officials — depending on the rate card for the week. The lid was blown after complaints reached senior Prasar Bharati Corporation officials and former minister in-charge of Northeast, Arun Shourie, resulting in an inquiry into the functioning of the channel and suspension of its director. Suspension order to B Chakravarty was issued on Thursday last even as an explanation for supervisory lapse has been sought from Deputy Director-General Singson. He has proceeded on leave and in his place, Sekhose has been given additional charge of looking after radio and the TV channel. Confirming the developments, Director-General of the Prasar Bharati Corporation, S Y Quraishi, told The Indian Express that he had sought an explanation from Singson. ‘‘We had received complaints of corruption against the director when we visited the Northeast,’’ Quraishi said. The two-and-a-half-year-old channel was started with a specific purpose of providing a platform for the people from the Northeast. With over 60 per cent of the programmes being produced from there, the channel was meant to showcase the best of the Northeast with an annual budgetary allocation of Rs 10.5 crore. What went on air, however, was different. Of the 62 proposals invited from producers, 22 came unsolicited from ‘‘producers’’ who had nothing to do with programming. Enquiries revealed that one lady producer was awarded nearly Rs 25 lakh for producing serials for the channel. Another, a State Bank of India official, bagged episodes for a company named after her daughter — after stating that those were recommended by the Ministry of Home under whose jurisdiction the channel fell till a few months ago. Nine shortlisted genuine producers never got their letters on time. Sources in the corporation said that a Nagaland Governor’s relative was one of the aggrieved producers who was asked to give commission if he wanted his programmes aired. A former Sangeet Natak Akademi member too had lodged a complaint wth the corporation officials.
