*20,000 TV sets/DTH distributed in violation of guidelines
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 4: The Principal Accountant General (PAG) has detected blatant violation of Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting guidelines in distribution of 20,000 Television Sets and Direct to Home (DTH) receivers in Jammu and Kashmir, which has resulted into unfruitful expenditure of nearly Rs 2 crore and blocking of Rs 1.08 crore.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the year 2008 proposed to provide Direct to Home (DTH) receivers and Television sets to the Jammu and Kashmir Government for installation in the areas where no Doordarshan (DD) terrestrial signal reaches and which are not covered by cable networking.
Accordingly, 10,000 DTH and 10,000 TV sets respectively along with accessories were procured by the Prasar Bharti at a cost of Rs 9.70 crore and supplied free of cost to the State Government during the months of April and July 2008. Out of these, 5000 sets were delivered to the concerned authorities for installation as per the laid down guidelines in Kashmir valley including Ladakh region and another 5000 kept at the disposal of the concerned authorities in Jammu division.
However, the Principal Accountant General, J&K, during audit, has found that the concerned authorities distributed DTH/TV sets without any survey to identify the areas, which were not covered by terrestrial transmitters/ cable networking, sources said, adding instead of maintaining inventory of receipt/distribution of the DTH receivers and TV sets at the Nodal Officer level, these receivers/sets were allotted to the Deputy Commissioners of all the 22 districts.
“Despite repeated requests the concerned authorities have failed to furnish to the Prasar Bharti the details of locations and addresses where these DTH receivers and TV sets were installed”, sources said, adding the Deputy Commissioners have not furnished the installation details in respect of 6123 TV sets/DTH systems as such the possibility of unauthorized diversion cannot be ruled out.
They said that due to installation/issue of TV sets/DTH receivers in the areas where terrestrial transmitters were already installed and without identification of uncovered areas like border and far-flung areas, the envisaged purpose of enhancing viewership of television in border/far-flung areas was defeated besides resulting into unfruitful expenditure of Rs 1.95 crore and blocking of funds to the extent of Rs 1.08 crore besides depriving the benefits of the scheme to intended beneficiaries (inhabitants of uncovered areas).
In response to a question, sources said that at the time of supplying 10,000 TV sets and 10,000 DTH receivers, the Prasar Bharti had furnished a copy of guidelines to the State Government for strict compliance.
As per the guidelines, the sites were to be selected out of uncovered areas (where no DD terrestrial signal reaches) and Anganwadis, Government Schools (from primary to higher secondary), Public Health Centers, village Panchayats, Corporate Societies, Associations run by local people working for peace and harmony in the insurgency hit areas, those villages which have Village Defence Committees, Youth Clubs and Tribal Autonomous Councils were eligible for distribution of DTH and TV sets. The Government had also to ensure power supply to the selected sites.
But these guidelines were flouted with impunity resulting into scuttling of the initiative of the Prasar Bharti.
According to the sources, the Principal Accountant General has sought reply from the Government in this regard for inclusion of draft paragraph in the CAG report for the year ending March 31, 2014.
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