40,000 DD, AIR employees on strike tomorrow

New Delhi, Jun 2 (UNI) Altogether 40,000 employees of AIR and Doordarshan, under the platform of NFADE, are going for a tool down strike tomorrow as part of their ongoing agitation for restoration of the original character of their organisation.

They want that the fund-starved Prasar Bharati Corporation should be wound up and they should revert to their status as government employees.

Though the employees will perform operational duties, they will not perform maintenance, servicing, logging, scripting tomorrow.

The working of a number of stations of the National Broadcaster may be affected.

The employees have written a letter to Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi reiterating their demands.

The employees also object to the reported plans to mortgage assets of the Prasar Bharati with banks for raising funds from the market.

Another cause of agitation is that, according to employees national federation, Prasar Bharati management plans to hire people from outside to operate sensitive installations of DD and AIR, which, they say, could compromise national security.

Earlier, the employees had observed "work to rule" agitation on the issue between May 19 to May 23.

UNI NAZ HS VC1940