PUNE: Opposition parties have criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) decision to shift the regional news division of All India Radio (AIR) from Pune to Sambhajinagar. The relocation will take effect on June 19, and on the backdrop, AIR Pune’s employees met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and MP Supriya Sule and put the facts in front of her.
Sule on Wednesday wrote to Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, saying, “Pune AIR station plays an important social role and morning news bulletin released from the city is popular all over Maharashtra. As a post at Pune station is vacant, the Central government took a hasty decision to shift the whole reporting desk from Pune to Sambhajinagar. Pune has a cultural significance, and a regional radio station cannot be shunted out just like that.”
City Congress leader Mohan Joshi criticised the government, saying, “Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Javadekar hails from Pune, and he held the Information and Broadcasting portfolio. Javadekar should ask the central government to keep the Pune news channel running,” Joshi explained.
