(Mr. Ahmed Ali Fayyaz, 49, was born in Bodina, Budgam, and received his primary and secondary education in Budgam and later at Amar Singh College, Srinagar. He completed his Master's degree in Kashmiri language and literature from the University of Kashmir in 1987. After working with Rashtriya Sahara and Kashmir Times in 1993-94, and later for 13 years as Srinagar Bureau Chief of Daily Excelsior, he is woking as Resident Editor/ Srinagar Bureau Chief of Jammu-based English daily Early Times since April 2009. He is also a filmmaker whose forte in audio-visual media is Kashmir's composite culture, heritage, ecology and social issues. Since February 2008, he has been regularly anchoring Take One Television's bi-weekly hard talk show "Face To Face With Ahmed Ali Fayyaz" which is watched by more than three million viewers in Srinagar, Jammu and other urban areas of Jammu & Kashmir.)
How Srinagar DD officials Looted Exchequer With Impunity
Srinagar: With the two-year-long Early Times campaign heading for its logical conclusion and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launching a fresh exercise to crack the network of corruption, it has now become clear that officials under the headship of Dr Rafeeq Masoodi have created unauthorized liability of Rs 37.53 Crore in a few months at Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) Srinagar. Even as some fiction and musical serials have been approved in the infamous "in-house" category for certain genuine private producers, it has been observed that most of these hundreds of proposed serials have been "approved" for either unknown and fictitious persons or those having no knowledge or legitimate connection with the electronic media.
Well-placed and informed sources disclosed exclusively to Early Times that before his departure from DDK Srinagar, Dr Masoodi had sought "gunny bags of proposals" from a coterie of his subordinate officials and approved them in bulk, mostly in the first six months of year 2011. In July 2011, he was shifted to DD headquarters and replaced as Head of Programme by DDP Shami Shair. All these surreptitiously approved and telecast programme serials were processed allegedly on "advance commission of 20% of the approved budget". With the exception of some senior private producers, all the beneficiaries are alleged to have paid bribes in lieu of "approval". Mostly drama and musical serials, these proposals of "private producers" were categorized as the DDK's own "in-house" productions.
Even as most of the facilities, including studio, sets, make up, transport, cameras, editing suites, graphics, lights and costumes were very much available in DDK's own stores, payments were processed in the name of "private facility providers". Names of the "facility providers" were obviously collected from the beneficiary private producers who submitted these proposals through DDK's regular Producers and got the "approval" from the Head of Programme.
Sources said that inquiries have revealed that not more than 20 of these private producers, who remained all under shadow, were senior and genuine professionals. Only the Kendra's regular Producer knew as to which serial belonged to which private producer. According to these sources, over 90% of these proposals belonged to unknown persons who gave fictitious names of the payees---in whose name cheques were and would be drawn on account of providing different facilities. Sources said that hundreds of tapes "even in gunny bags" landed secretly in DDK Srinagar stores. While as many of these programmes were telecast, mostly remained untelecast and a cumulative liability for DD. It was in just few months that Dr Masoodi and his subordinate Producers created the whopping liability of Rs 37.53 Crore for the key head of Programme Professional Special Services (PPS). There is a particular quarterly ceiling for PPS which the Kendras can not exceed under any circumstances.
Immediately after Dr Masoodi's transfer, DD headquarters asked about this huge pile of tapes and liabilities. None other than Masoodi's successor, Shami Shair, communicated to DG Doordarshan, through ADG Venkateshawrlu, under No: DKS/PA-1P-2011 Dated 21-07-2011, that the volume of PPS liability at DDK Srinagar was a whopping Rs 37.53 Cr till 8-7-2011.
According to her official communication, a copy of which is in possession of Early Times, just eleven of DDK Srinagar's regular Producers have created huge liability of Rs 31 Crore. They include Mrs Shair herself who had got 'in-house' programmes to the tune of Rs 1.04 Cr approved from Dr Masoodi.
Transmission Executive Rajeev Sadhu tops the list. He has created liability of Rs 7.36 Crore. According to Mrs Shair's official letter, contracts to the tune of Rs 68,10,000 of Mr Sadhu's programmes were lying with Accounts Section. Other of his "in-house" programmes to the tune of Rs 1.32 Crore had been approved and telecast, while as programmes worth Rs 5.31 Crore were yet to be telecast and paid.
On this very communication, Mandi House had frozen telecast and payment of all these scandalously made proposals and launched a departmental investigation last year. Most of the people associated with DD have been demanding that this lot of programmes should be fully canceled and the DDK officials booked in criminal matters.
Rasheed Javed, who has recently retired, has created a liability of Rs 4.10 Crore. He is closely followed by Programme Executive Haleema Parveen who has created liability of Rs 3.82 Crore. Programme Executive Javed Bukhari has created liability of Rs 3.64 Crore, Film Editor Tanveer Hussain Mir Rs 2.73 Crore, Pr Ex Sudesh Bakshi Rs 1.70 Crore, now retired Pr Ex Ghulam Mohiuddin a liability of Rs 1.32 Crore, Cameraman Mushtaq Ahmad Khan Rs 1.24 Crore, Floor Manager Bashir Ahmad Dar Rs 1.13 Crore and DDP Qayoom Wadera, who is new Head of Programmes at DDK Srinagar, has also created liability of Rs 1.17 Crore.
Even as total liability of Rs 1.17 Crore has been shown against the programmes proposed/produced by Mrs Shair, some insiders insist that she had concealed liability of over Rs 2 Crore in her communication. Interestingly, maximum of her liability is reported to have been cleared during her tenure of 15 months.
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