An assistant director of Doordarshan was suspended after the Tamil channel did not broadcast Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech live during his visit to Chennai, reported the Indian Express. The speech was broadcast live on Doordarshan News and several other language channels of the national broadcaster, but did not appear on DD Podhigai, the Tamil language channel of Doordarshan. The speech was Modi’s first address at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras.
R Vasumathi, who is the assistant director (programme) of Doordarshan’s Chennai Kendra, was suspended under the sub-rule (1) of Rule 10 of the Central Civil Services Rules (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965. The suspension order was dated October 1 and signed by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati. The order did not clearly state the reason for suspension.
During his Chennai visit, the Prime Minister addressed the India Singapore Hackathon 2019 and the 56th Concvocation of IIT, Madras. He also gave away prizes to the winners of the Hackathon.
It is still not clear why Vasumathi skipped the address at IIT-Madras, but a senior DD official told the Indian Express that it could have been a mistake. The official said that Vasumathi believed that there was a model code of conduct in place with bypolls scheduled to be held in the Nanguneri and Vikravandi assembly constituencies on October 21.
The report quoted another Doordarshan official as saying that they had received standing instructions to telecast both the addresses made by the prime minister in Chennai. “But she (Vasumathi) chose to skip one event,” the official was quoted as saying.
Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO of Prasar Bharti, refused to offer a comment to the Indian Express saying that this was an internal administration matter.
In his speech during the IIT convocation, PM Modi emphasised on climate change and urged people to take steps that help us face the challenge. “Let the best brains in Asian countries compete to offer innovative solutions for reducing global warming and climate change,” Modi said while talking about climate change and single-use plastic.