Money for poor goes to pay salary of Tara staff

The relief fund is meant for those requiring financial assistance on education and health grounds. According to the rules,people applying for the assistance should have a monthly income of not more than Rs 5,000.

This month too,money has been arranged from the relief fund to pay remuneration to the Tara employees and,going by the indications,the money will continue to be raised this way for an indefinite period of time,putting a heavy burden on the corpus meant for the needy.

The state government,bogged down by its controversial commitment,is planning to issue an ordinance to take over the two channels. Since broadcasting is in the Union list in the Constitution,it has sent the ordinance to the President of India for approval.

“We have sent the ordinance to the President. As soon as it comes back to us with his approval,we will go ahead with the ordinance,” Chandrima Bhattacharya,minister for law and justice,told The Indian Express.

She asserted that the state government was within its rights to issue the ordinance. “We won’t do anything illegal. We are committed to stand by the journalists who are in distress,’’ she said.

The Indian Express found that the ordinance has not reached the ministry of information and broadcasting,which is supposed to clear it. “Uday Kumar Verma,secretary in the ministry,told this newspaper,“We have not received any proposal so far. But so far as the legal position is concerned,broadcasting is in the Union list and the state government cannot run a TV channel. We will have to go by the TRAI order too,which clearly says that no state government can run a TV channel. So we cannot clear the proposal. But if the state wants to launch a welfare scheme for the employees,we cannot say no to it.”

A senior official of Prasar Bharati said that the state government would have to challenge the TRAI order of December 28 if it was serious in taking over the TV channels.

“The ordinance will never be cleared by the central government. The only option before the state government is to challenge the TRAI order,” the senior IAS officer told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile,till that issue is settled,the relief fund will have to be used to pay the salaries to Tara employees. The fund receives Rs 7-8 crore annually,but almost the entire amount gets disbursed as it receives about 4,000 applications a year.

“If Rs 26 lakh has to be arranged every every month for disbursement as salaries. it will make a dent in the assistance given to the poor and needy. Every month,we have to arrange for about Rs 58 lakh for payment to the needy. Now we have this additional burden. And if employees of a sick or closed unit go to court praying for salaries from the relief fund,why should they be discriminated against?” a senior official of the state government told The Indian Express.

CPM politburo member Surya Kanta Mishra said: “We are in favour of helping journalists in distress. But this is not the way.”