E-Paper
Live telecast of Gurbani starts on SGPC’s YouTube channel
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has started live telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple on its YouTube channel, despite its agreement with the PTC channel expiring. Over 66,000 users have subscribed to the YouTube channel. The SGPC had been criticised for giving exclusive rights to the PTC channel, which is linked to the Badal family that runs the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) party. The state government and the SGPC have been at odds over the live telecast of Gurbani, with the government passing a bill to end PTC's monopoly.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Monday started the live telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple on its YouTube channel. Simultaneously, the PTC channel also continued the telecast despite its agreement with the apex gurdwara body expired on Sunday.
The telecast started at 3:30 am and continued till 8.30 am. As per the timings announced by the SGPC, the second session of the live telecast started at 12.30 pm, which lasted till 2.30 pm. In the evening, the gurbani will be telecast from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm.
Till the filing of this report, over 66,000 users had subscribed to the YouTube channel.
PTC during the live telecast showed the logo on the SGPC channel ‘SGPC Sri Amritsar’ on the left side of the screen, giving credit to the gurdwara body which had been under fire from many quarters for giving exclusive rights to the PTC channel for many years.
The last agreement for teh live telecast of Gurbani was signed with PTC channel on July 24, 2012, for 11 years. Under the agreement, G-Next Media which runs PTC was to give ₹1 crore annually (with a 10% annual increase) to the SGPC.
A majority of shares of the company are said to be held by the Badal family that is at the helm of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which also has a majority in the SGPC general house.
The state government and the SGPC have been at loggerheads over the live telecast of Gurbani. On June 20, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab got the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, passed in the assembly to end the ‘monopoly’ of the PTC channel and ensure ‘free telecast’ for all. The move was termed as ‘intolerable interference in Sikh affairs’ by the Sikh organisations, including the SGPC.
On June 26, the SGPC general house rejected the Bill, which is yet to get governor Banwarilal Purohit’s assent.
