The operations of both All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan were hit as the technical staff of both the public broadcasters went on a 48-hour strike to press their demand for the repeal of the Prasar Bharati Act with the employees of both the organisations claiming that the legislation has not worked.
The strike had been called by the National Federation of Doordarshan and AIR Employees (NFDAE) which claimed that the stir led to widespread disruption of services of AIR as well as DD.
While officials admitted that AIR and DD services were affected, they maintained the disruption was not as widespread as was being claimed by the employees association.
The broadcast of AIR news bulletins was hit as the technical staff was on strike. In the case of DD, its regional centres in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Thiruvananthapuram and Jalandhar reportedly could not operate owing to the strike and perforce had to telecast national programmes. According to agencies, the regional channels of DD “Podhigai” in Tamil Nadu, DD Chandana in Karnataka, DD Malayalam in Kerala, DD NE in the the Northeast and DD Bangla in West Bengal had to telecast old films and programmes obtained from the national feed.
Further, agencies said that in Chennai, all AIR channels including Chennai A, Chennai B, FM and commercial channels went off air since morning.