Govt keen to resolve FTII issue: Rajyavardhan Rathore

New Delhi, Aug 22: Asserting that the government was keen to resolve the FTII issue, Minister of State Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore on Friday said further decisions in this regard would be taken after the three-member team constituted by the ministry returns from Pune.

"The government hopes to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We want that FTII should be strengthened," Rathore told reporters at the inauguration of a North-East Film Festival here.

Asked about the demand of agitating students who are protesting against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the institute's chairman, Rathore said, the recent incident related only to the assessment of 2008 batch.

"The incident which occured two days ago, because of which police came and they were arrested, in that eight hours there was no mention of Gajendra Chauhan. In those eight hours there was only one thing that the assessments of 2008-09 batch should be stopped," Rathore said.

He added that a course which is of three-year duration, could not be completed even in eight years, problems have arisen because of that, due to which the three-member team was in Pune.

"When it returns, then after analysing their interaction with students, faculty and director, a decision would be taken," he said.

Rathore also added that when he had a conversation with FTII director who said they were repeatedly saying the same thing as if some interrogation was on.

Their question was will you stop this process of assessment and not implement, he added. The minister also emphasised that the process of assessment has not been initiated by this government or after the strike but had begun in April 2013 and several warnings had been given to students of this batch.

Inaugurating the North East Film Festival Rathore said Government intended to make the North East Film Festival, a ‘People’s Movement’ which would become better with each passing year.

He also said the government was planning to set up a Film and Television Institute in Arunachal Pradesh and also wants a Doordarshan channel for each state in the region.

PTI