Sikkim BJP thanks Balkrishna for raising Gangtok DD Kendra issue in Parliament

GANGTOK, 17 May: Bharatiya Janta Party Sikkim unit president, Padam Chettri has expressed gratitude towards the BJP MP, Balkrishna Shukla, on behalf of the people of Sikkim for raising the issue of making the Doordarshan Kendra here at Gangtok functional in the Lok Sabha session of 16 May. He further thanked the MP for drawing the attention of the Central Government to the issue.
Addressing a press conference today, the Sikkim BJP president informed that the Minister of State of Information and Broadcasting, Dr S Jagatrakshan had stated in the Lok Sabha on 15 May that “Doordarshan Kendra in Gangtok is functioning.” On the same, he countered that the Kendra is not functioning at all and it was a sad commentary on the functioning of parliamentary democracy in the country that a Minister “stoops so low” as to mislead “the holy temple of democracy”. He further added that it was a contempt of the Parliament where every minute supposedly costs Rs. One crore when a Minister “unabashedly tells a lie”.
“The fact that the Minister told the Lok Sabha that the Kendra is functioning, presupposes that all the expenditures in connection with its running, such as salary, programmes, news broadcasts etc are being incurred without any work being done,” he alleged. On the same, he demanded an immediate CBI enquiry into the matter to find out the facts.
“The people of Sikkim hope that Shuklaji will continue to take further actions on account of the Kendra till it is made functional, since our SDF representatives in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have maintained complete silence unmindful of their responsibility towards the people of Sikkim,” he stressed.
Mr Chettri alleged that the people of Sikkim do not feel that they are a part of India as the Centre “consistently and deliberately has not made any effort to bring them into the national mainstream”. He added that despite several past requests in writing and approaches to the highest constitutional authorities in the country including the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister-in-Charge, they have doggedly refused to inaugurate the DD Kendra in Gangtok.
He further alleged that the Central Government squandered an amount of more than Rs 14 crore in 2003 for the Kendra. Mr Chettri informed that as per information received on 03 June 2008 from Assistant Director of Programme, Ashok Bhan, in reply to a query under the RTI Act, “Tentatively, inaugural ceremonies of studio at Gangtok had been planned in May 2002 and October 2002.”