Staff fumes as Akashvani closes Punjabi news broadcast units from Delhi, Chandigarh

Since then, the production of Regional Punjabi News has been discontinued at the Chandigarh centre, resulting in the absence of Punjab and Chandigarh News in the FM Headlines of Chandigarh.

Additionally, the text of Regional Punjabi News is no longer available on the official website of Akashvani, newsonair.com, since the same date.

Previously, the Delhi centre used to broadcast four bulletins of Punjabi news at 8.30 am, 1.40 pm, 7.30 pm, and 6.40 pm (for external countries). The 6.40 pm bulletin was halted during the Covid period, and now all bulletins have been shifted to the Jalandhar centre. Many broadcasters have criticised the move, calling it an assault on Punjab and Punjabi.

Bhupinder Singh Malik from the Punjabi Lekhak Sabha Chandigarh expressed concern over Prasar Bharati’s discriminatory treatment towards Punjabis by discontinuing Punjabi news and accused them of attempting to diminish Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh, a long-standing bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana.

Balbir Jandu, from Punjab and Chandigarh Journalists’ Union, and Dr Khushwant Singh from the Kendari Singh Sabha pointed out how during the session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, a review of the proceedings is broadcast every day which is written by senior journalists/legislative experts present in the session. “This is a mandatory process that has been going on since the existence of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies and is possible only from the capital where the Legislative Assembly holds its session,” Balbir Jandu said, adding that several other programmes, including a news reel programme (“Samachar Darshan”) by the Regional News Unit which used to broadcast in Punjabi language only, have also been discontinued from Chandigarh.

Harjap Singh Aujla, a radio enthusiast, author, and engineer, criticised the decision to shift the Punjabi section from Chandigarh and Delhi to Jalandhar. He said this move is detrimental and unjust towards Punjabis, considering that Chandigarh is the capital of Punjab, and Delhi has a significant Punjabi population. “Punjabi is the second language in Delhi. Every Punjabi must strongly oppose this decision.”

Sources at the Jalandhar centre stated that Akashvani Chandigarh’s regional news unit has been broadcasting two bulletins in Punjabi (Punjab) and Hindi (Haryana) daily for the past 55 years. While the Punjabi unit is being transferred, the Hindi unit remains unaffected. Additionally, the affected staff expressed their frustration with the current situation, where news bulletin preparation takes place in Delhi while news reading occurs in Jalandhar.

Slamming this decision, Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, an AAP Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, highlighted the recent development of Rajya Sabha providing documents in Punjabi, in addition to Hindi and English. “It’s an injustice done to the Punjabi language and Punjabi-speaking people,” he said. “I will raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha on behalf of the AAP government. I will also meet with the Union minister for information and broadcasting to urge the withdrawal of this decision,” he added.

All the Punjabi news bulletins, including three national (from Delhi) and two regional (from Chandigarh), have been going on air even after shifting these units to Jalandhar Akashvani centre since May 14, but the text of Regional Punjabi News is not available on the official website of Akashvani (newsonair.com) since then.

By closing the Punjabi units at Chandigarh centre implies that now no regional news bulletin (Punjabi language news) will be originated (produced) from here as the regional news production has been stopped from here and transferred to Jalandhar centre by ignoring the state capital, which houses all the important offices of the state government. Akashvani sources said that Punjab is the only state where such a move could happen. In all other parts of the country the regional news originated from the respective state capital’s Akashvani centre only. Even Doordarshan’s Haryana regional unit, which was earlier in Hisar, was shifted to Chandigarh for this reason only (that Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana) some years ago, said sources in Akashvani.