'I&B agreed to CWG broadcast mess as it had no option'

The mess created by Prasar Bharati in broadcast of Commonwealth Games had left the Information and Broadcasting ministry with no option but to agree to its recommendations favouring a private broadcaster. Or else, it would have jeopardized telecast of the games, the CAG has said.

Updated on: Aug 5, 2011, 01:09:16 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The mess created by Prasar Bharati in broadcast of Commonwealth Games had left the Information and Broadcasting ministry with no option but to agree to its recommendations favouring a private broadcaster. Or else, it would have jeopardized telecast of the games, the CAG has said.

National broadcaster Prasar Bharati wanted contract conditions with SISlive, the UK based consortium responsible for telecasting the games, to be changed for allowing 60% advance payment, instead of 30%, and submitted a proposal to I&B minister in September, 2010.

"Given the circumstances and the fact that there is no time to initiate fresh process…the ministry does not have the option of revisiting the issue," Raghu Menon secretary I&B wrote regarding ministry’s decision to allow 60 % advance payment. The secretary also mentioned that then Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar wanted the telecast to be ensured.

I&B minister Ambika Soni at an oversight committee meeting, constituted to provide policy direction on telecast issues, felt that changing the payment schedule can open legal intervention by other parties and said some parties chose to opt out of the bidding process because of the terms and conditions of the payment schedule.

In the same meeting, the CAG says, the law minister (Veerappa Moily) felt the opinion of solicitor general (SG) Gopal Subramanium had not specifically given a finding on legality of the changing the payment condition, which Soni said he (SG) should had rather than leaving the decision to competent authority.

The report details the huge loss to the government because of ill planning and alleged favourtism.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.