The Bengal Government has decided to take over two television channels owned by Sudipta Sen’s Saradha Group amid questions raised by the State Opposition on the legality of the decision.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced that her Government would acquire the two television channels, Tara News and Tara Muzik. The Government will not, however, take any responsibility of its past liability of Rs 6 crore.
The Government decided to take over the channels “after their employees appealed to us to do something for them,” Banerjee said. The 168 employees of the two channels will be paid an ex-gratia of Rs 16,000 each for the current month, she announced.
This amount was apart from Rs 26 lakh given by her last month to the channels “from the sale proceeds of my paintings.”
“We have decided to acquire and revive the two channels, Tara News and Tara Muzik, on grounds of humanity as their employees had come to us with an appeal” to bail them out Banerjee said adding it was yet to be decided whether an ordinance would be framed or a special session of the Assembly would be called to get a legislation passed regarding the decision.
The Saradha Group allegedly responsible for perpetrating a chit-fund fraud of Rs 22,000 crore owned several television networks including Tara News.
“I am happy that their bad days have gone,” the Chief Minister said but would not comment on Channel 10, another news network in crisis owned by Saradha Group.
“We are happy that the Chief Minister has considered our demand sympathetically and that we will not have to go begging for jobs in other places” a news coordinator said requesting anonymity.
His sentiments were echoed by a reporter. “We have not been paid our dues for the past three months and some of our class-four staff were literally starving,” she said.
“Many of our staff cried before the Chief Minister because they had nowhere to go with their families” she said adding however, “Such decisions should be seen in humanitarian angle and not political angle.”
Notwithstanding, the Government decision was immediately greeted with criticism from the Opposition that raised questions regarding its legality.
The Government’s decision came at a time when the authorities were frantically looking for the properties belonging to the chit-fund group liable for biggest ever financial fraud in Bengal so that these can be used in future to pay off the deposits of the lakhs of swindled depositors, critics said.
“It is to be seen whether such decision can be taken or not as the channels belong to Saradha Group which is responsible for the multi-crore chit-fund scam defrauding about a crore people,” State Opposition leader Surya Kanto Mishra said adding before taking such decisions the Government should make it clear whether any chit-fund money was used to run these channels.
“It is surprising that the Government is taking such decisions when the investigations into the fraud, has not even ended and when the so-called authorities were looking for the hidden properties of the group” in order to pay back the deposits of the cheated depositors.
What the Government would do if the courts in future ordered attachment and auctioning of such properties, the Opposition asked adding the decision had much to do with the Panchayat elections “as the Trinamool Congress needs friendly channels directly under its control to propagate its cause.”