Vacancies hit Kalaburagi Doordarshan Centre

The Kalaburagi Doordarshan Centre was Karnataka’s first analogue terrestrial transmitter established by Prasar Bharati in 1977.
| Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI

The Kalaburagi Doordarshan Centre, Karnataka’s first analogue terrestrial transmitter established by Prasar Bharati in 1977, once a bustling centre, has now been hit by a shortage of staff.

The centre is functioning with less than one-seventh of its sanctioned strength of approximately 81 posts, besides the station director (SD) and assistant station director (ASD) posts.

In the field, where the production executive (PEX) plays a critical role, the workforce is nil with all 16 sanctioned posts in the production section lying vacant. 

The Kalaburagi Doordarshan Centre was Karnataka’s first analogue terrestrial transmitter established by Prasar Bharati in 1977.
| Photo Credit:
ARUN KULKARNI

The engineering section operates with only six technical employees against the sanctioned 34 posts. Posts of six cameramen, with one grade-I cameramen and five grade-II cameraman; one post of station engineer and two posts of assistant station engineer; two posts of floor manager; three posts of floor assistant, and one each post of painter, carpenter, make-up artist, graphics artist, and librarian were all vacant.

Similarly, the administration section has only six staff against the 31 sanctioned posts, with the posts of head clerk, assistant officer, senior assistant officer, upper division clerk, and lower division clerk lying vacant.

Local officials at the centre said that the repercussions of the staff shortages are manifold. When there is no staff in the production section, the service of the engineering section becomes meaningless. Though Kalaburagi Doordarshan switched from analogue terrestrial transmission (ATT) to digital transmission in October 2021, the Central government has not made any efforts to fill up the vacant posts. The posts of assistant station director and station director have been vacant for more than a decade, officials stated.

Social activist Basavaraj Koralli has written to the Union Ministry for Information and Broadcasting, the Additional Director-General, AIR and Doordarshan South Zone, Director General for Prasad Bharati urging them to fill up the vacant posts. 

He said that the centre was contributing only half an hour of the weekly programme owing ue to a shortage of staff, while the regular programmes on agriculture, education, and health were stopped. Since the centre has stopped producing cultural programmes, the local artists from the Kalyana Karnataka region were deprived of opportunities, he added.