NEW DELHI, DEC 4: In a classic case of shooting the messenger, the BJP-led Government has reportedly decided to crack down on the heads of its key media units.Starting with the Principal Information Officer, S Narendra, the Government has decided to send the message across to ``errant'' bureaucrats that no slackness will be allowed.Narendra, who is the most senior Indian Information Service official, and heads the Press Information Bureau, will most likely be accommodated as officer on special duty in another ministry.Informed sources in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said tonight that Narendra was transferred for his ``failure'' in handling the Government's PR machinery.That's not all. Battered by its projection during All India Radio's coverage of the recent elections to Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has also decided to remove Harish Awasthi from his post as Director-General (News), AIR. Awasthi was earlier relieved of hischarge as Director-General (News), Doordarshan, a position that was created by former Prasar Bharati CEO Surrindar Singh Gill. Awasthi, a long-serving AIR newsman, will now reportedly become Director, Publications Division.Sources in the Ministry said a large number of ``complaints'' had been received about both Narendra and Awasthi for their ``non-performance''. The Government may also change its representative on the Prasar Bharati board. It is expected to make Additional Secretary Rajeev Ratna Shah the ex-officio member of the board in place of Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) K S Sarma.Sarma, who is due for a promotion, served as Doordarshan Director-General under the governments of P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral.The Government hopes this will convince other ministries to undertake a purge, as it is increasingly coming to the conclusion that its directives are being resisted by bureaucrats. The most obvious case of this was in the Urban Affairs Ministry where Secretary KiranAggarwal and Minister Ram Jethmalani did not see eye to eye.Significantly, after the mauling in the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the three states where BJP received drubbing, Aggarwal was shifted to the Department of Women and Child Development in the Centre.
