Prasar Bharati asks for additional Rs 112 crore for supplementary demands

Prasar Bharati asks for additional Rs 112 crore for supplementary demands

NEW DELHI: An additional sum of Rs 111.98 crore has been sought by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for providing additional grants-in-aid – General of Rs 1.98 crore, and grants-in-aid - salaries Rs 110 crore for Prasar Bharati.

 

The demands have been made in the Supplementary Demands for Grants tabled in Parliament by Jaitley, who also holds the Information and Broadcasting portfolio.

 

A sum of Rs 1.5 crore has been demanded for meeting additional expenditure towards providing grants-in-aid – general for National and International Children’s Film Festival under the Plan Scheme; Promotion of Indian cinema through film festivals and film markets in India and abroad.

 

Grants-in-aid – salaries totalling Rs 1.85 crore has also been sought towards providing to the Children’s Film Society, India (Rs 4 lakh), Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata (Rs 83 lakh), Indian Institute of Mass Communications (Rs 80 lakh) and Press Council of India (Rs 18 lakh).

 

In the case of these three demands, the Minister said, “As savings are available in the same section of the grant, a token supplementary is sought.”

 

A sum of Rs 5.7 crore has been demanded for upgradation of the Siri Fort Complex (Rs 40 lakh), building infrastructure of Films Division (Rs 50 lakh), and the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (Rs 4.8 crore). The Minister has said, “Taking into account the savings of Rs 2.49 crore available in the same section, a technical supplementary for the balance amount of Rs 3.21 crore is sought as equivalent savings are available in the revenue section of the grant.”

 

In addition, the supplementary demands for grants have sought a sum of Rs 3.24 crore as capital outlay.