ITN too, facing ruin due to improper management
- Jan 03, 2016
The ITN is facing ruin due to the improper and stubborn management of the present administrators, say its employees. The institution, which had been the no. one television channel for the past six years, has today fallen to the 4th or the 5th place, they point out. They say this situation is directly affecting not only the institution and themselves, but also the country as a whole.
Improper appointments
Since the new chairman took over, unnecessary positions have been created and new recruitment made and various persons appointed as consultants. New consultants have been recruited for the marketing, programme and engineering divisions, and the ITN has to spend around Rs. 170,000 a month on each of them, but they serve no purpose. Their salary is Rs. 100,000 and a further Rs. 70,000 is paid as vehicle, fuel and driver allowances.
In addition, the chairman, who is also head of the People’s Bank, has appointed a coordinator for him, who gets a Rs. 75,000 salary plus the above allowances. Furthermore, a consultant has been appointed, at a Rs. 100,000 salary, for Lakhanda Radio, which is suffering heavy losses. It is no question that a consultant is appointed for the upliftment of a loss-incurring institution, but the person here knows next to nothing about broadcasting, but had worked in the newspaper field only.
The institution, which gained the no. one position without any consultant, will be ruined due to these improper appointments, employees say.
Persons who were responsible for corrupt activities during the previous Rajapaksa regime are still at work at the institution, and have become close to the newly-appointed consultants and the top management, who have failed yet to understand their motives, according to the employees. This handful of persons has become close to the top officials and is taking the institution to ruin, which has become easy due to the inefficiencies of the new management.
Earning profits, the ITN gave a Rs. 75,000 bonus to all employees in 2014, but that got reduced to Rs. 44,880 in 2015. While even the loss-incurring Rupavahini is giving cash bonuses, gift vouchers to up and coming employees by way of encouragement, the ITN is curtailing the bonus of even those who worked to take the channel to no. one, much to the disappointment of the employees. Trade unions have brought this matter to the attention of the chairman and the media minister, but the present management is not ready to listen to any of these. Employees say that the most infamous management they had seen was the Anura Siriwardena period, but the present management is on a rapid journey to overtake him very soon. By that time, the institution will be in ruin, employees add.
