Islamabad: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has said that a large payment was to be made for the rights of the ICC Champions Trophy, due to which PTV’s salaries were delayed.
According to Express News, a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information was held in which Information Minister Attaullah Tarar briefed the members and answered their questions.
The Information Minister said that PTV’s salary was delayed due to the ICC payment, I wanted the public not to be deprived of watching the Champions Trophy, many private media channels have not paid salaries for several months, the owners of many channels are earning from the real estate sector but are not paying salaries.
Convener Committee Sehar Kamran said that we have no connection with private media, you answer PTV.
The Information Minister said that the verification of degrees in PTV will be completed by January 31, even if I have to fire 200 employees with fake degrees, I will fire them. PTV had a “never go home” policy, employees or officers are rehired on high salaries after retirement, 12 such people were recently fired, PTV has hired renowned anchors from the private sector.
Atta Tarar said that our aim is to increase PTV’s revenue, we apologized to those who were recruited on recommendation, the production team’s expenses are high, we have asked the anchors to bring advertisements, they will be given a commission, anchors are paid high salaries due to advertisements in the private sector, 10 anchors were brought to PTV from the private sector, we get billions of rupees in revenue from the sports channel.
The Information Minister said that private sector anchors were not ready to come to PTV, PTV offers terrestrial broadcasts, people in remote areas do not need internet or other means for broadcasting, people in remote areas can watch PTV broadcasts by installing a normal antenna, recruitments were made on political grounds in every round, due to such recruitments, the institution suffered losses, there is a delay in the payment of salaries for three months in the private sector, when the payment of salaries was delayed for only 21 days in PTV, there was an uproar everywhere.
The Information Minister said that a huge payment had to be made for the rights of the ICC Champions Trophy, due to which the payment of salaries was delayed in PTV, we wanted people in every area and village of Pakistan to watch the Champions Trophy, we secured the rights of cricket, paid the salaries of groups 1 to 6 on January 15 and after that the salaries of groups 6 to 9 were paid.
During the meeting, the PEMRA Amendment Bill by Asia Naz Tanoli was considered. The bill proposes that there should be a censor board for dramas and advertisements of entertainment channels as well. Such dramas and advertisements are also being aired that cannot be watched with families.
Chairman PEMRA said that there should be consultation with TV channels on this issue. We have spoken to the management of some TV channels.
It was decided to form a sub-committee on the PEMRA Amendment Bill. Chairman PEMRA said that the sub-committee will also hear the position of the representatives of entertainment channels.
Meanwhile, in a conversation with the media, the Information Minister said that after many years, big events are starting in Pakistan. After the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, a mega sports event will be played in Pakistan. In the past, sports fields in Pakistan were deserted.
The Information Minister said that PTV is a national broadcaster, the ratings of PTV Sports have also increased, the ICC rights were paid on time, all their conditions have been fulfilled, PTV will show all ICC matches.
He said that a good panel is being set up for cricket broadcasting, Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik and other stars will be brought on screen, PTV Sports will be taken further forward, in the past, things were not right within PTV Sports, in the past, reforms were not made within PTV as they should have been.
Atta Tarar said that there was no action plan regarding ICC payments. Our effort is to restore the sports channel under a transparent system. A good online pension system has been introduced in Radio Pakistan. The officers who identified ghost employees should be congratulated. The nation’s money has been saved by removing ghost employees. There is a need to work in this way in other institutions as well. Positive changes will be seen in PTV and Radio Pakistan.
