The Congress on Saturday accused Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Smriti Irani of withholding the salaries of employees of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharti for refusing to toe the Ministry’s line.
Tagging a media report that said the I&B Ministry had withheld salaries of Prasar Bharti personnel after it refused to clear a bill of nearly ₹3 crore to a private company for an assignment, and opposed the move to appoint two journalists at high salaries, Congress’ Randeep Surjewala asked eight questions of the Minister in a series of tweets.
Among them, he asked why the I&B Ministry chose a private firm over Doordarshan for [coverage of] the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, why the private firm had to be paid ₹2.92 crore by Prasar Bharati, and why Doordarshan and AIR employees should be punished by having their salaries withheld.
