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Hi-tech newsroom rots amid DD's internal
wrangling
State-of-the-art
equipment, plush studios and newsroom on prime real estate have been
gathering dust for the past three years even as Doordarshan News
runs its channel from the Central Economic Times Centre (CPC) headquarters at
Asiad Games Village.
DD Bhawan at Mandi House -- a Rs
20 crore set up -- has sat idle for so long that warranty for the news
automation system installed there has expired forcing the I&B ministry to
clear an additional Rs 174 lakh recently for civil and electrical work,
repairs and the annual maintenance contract. In a recent visit to Mandi House, an
upset I&B minister Ambika Soni asked DD News to shift to its new offices
in the next two months. It is understood that Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli
has been asked to submit an action plan on the anticipated shift.
Despite a
rap on the knuckles by the CAG, DD's reluctance to shift to its new offices
-- which would be advantageous considering the central location of the office
and the technological edge -- stems from multiple reasons. Sources said that
greater interference from DD's top brass in news programming would shift the
power structure away from lower rung officials who currently wield great
influence on the content.
Meanwhile, DD
Bhawan at Mandi House equipped with hi-tech equipment that allows seamless
production, post-production and transmission continues to lie vacant. There
are 75 workstations for journalists and a dedicated transmission server for
playout. An internal report also pointed out that the new studios will allow
for better visual in terms of graphics and in fact 11 dry runs had been
conducted since 2006. Ministry
sources said that warranty for some of the equipment had now run out and DD
had sought an additional Rs 174 lakh for annual maintenance contract, repair
and civil and electrical work
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