Kerala DD director shunted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Jan 24: The director of Doordarshan Kendra, Trivandrum, P S Palanisamy, has been transferred to Pondicherry with imme...

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Jan 24: The director of Doordarshan Kendra, Trivandrum, P S Palanisamy, has been transferred to Pondicherry with immediate effect.Though no reason was cited in the transfer order, which was received at his office yesterday, he is believed to have been shunted out for the last-minute hitch-up in telecasting live the opening of NTPC Thermal Power Plant at Kayamkulam on January 17, attended by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee.

In another development, Doordarshan Pondicherry kendra head K P Sreenivasan was shifted to Thiruvananthapuram kendra as the deputy director. The live telecast had failed to take place after a machine, part of the Digital Satellite News Gathering System, brought specifically for the occasion from Hyderabad and installed at the Kudappanakunnu kendra, here, developed a snag just about an hour before the Prime Minister8217;s programme at Kayamkulam.

But this had not deterred the BJP State unit which demanded punishment for the Doordarshan officials whom it said were responsiblefor the last-minute abandonment of the live telecast. It felt the abandonment was part of a wider conspiracy and its State secretary M S Kumar sent a fax message to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan immediately demanding punishment for the officials responsible.

Meanwhile, the transfer of the director who took charge of the station only on December 15 last, shocked the Doordarshan staff here who felt he was being harassed for no fault of him. Doordarshan sources said every effort to rectify the technical problem of the machine which was supposed to download signals were made by the staff. Sources said the uplinking from Kayamkulam went on smoothly and the programme was recorded at Delhi and Mumbai kendras on request from the kendra here. This facilitated the recorded telecast of the programme in the same evening. Meanwhile, the transfer of Palanisamy would leave the Doordarshan kendra here without a director once gain.

Sreenivasan, the new deputy director, was expected to holdthe charge of the director. The post of director was remaining vacant till Palanisamy joined here about 10 months ago.