New Delhi: The West Bengal government's decision to take over two channels owned by scam-tainted Saradha Group which were facing closure may hit the roadblock as present guidelines do not allow state governments to run TV channels. "At present no proposal has come to us from the state government but as per the present set of guidelines state governments are not allowed to run television channels," a senior Information & Broadcasting Ministry official said.
"States are not companies which be running channels. As per the rules to be into broadcasting, the entity in question has to be registered as a company," the official added. The official also said that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had earlier in their recommendations strongly held that governments should not be allowed to enter into broadcasting.
The ministry has in the past rejected proposals from at least three state governments - Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat - related to entry into broadcasting and distribution activities. Earlier on Thursday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her government's decision to take over the two channels - Tara News and Tara Muzic - following an appeal by their employees seeking government intervention.
She said that 168 employees of the channels would get an ex-gratia of Rs 16,000 each from this month and the state government would provide Rs 26 lakh from the chief minister's relief fund on humanitarian grounds to run the channels. However, it would not take the liability of
08:43 PM, May 24, 2013
Kolkata: It has been a month since Sharada chit fund scam accused Sudipta Sen was arrested. The scam has driven at least eight people to suicide, lakhs of investors lost their life savings and hundreds of agents have fled their homes. An SIT to probe the case was announced and a Rs 500-crore package was announced. But one month on, questions are being raised about the pace of investigation and...
11:29 AM, May 23, 2013
Kolkata: Debjani Mukherjee, one of the main accused in the West Bengal chit fund scam, was on Wednesday once again admitted to the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata. Debjani, a close associate of Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen, was earlier on Tuesday admitted to SSKM hospital in Kolkata. Doctors say she is stable but is being kept under observation and will likely be released later on Wednesday. Earlier, she was...
02:36 PM, May 22, 2013
Kolkata: Debjani Mukherjee, one of the main accused in the Saradha Ponzi scam, was on Tuesday admitted to the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata. "She has been admitted with certain complaints like weakness, reeling and scanty urination. She is under observation of the doctors and there is nothing serious regarding her health condition," a hospital source said. Earlier, she was admitted to a private hospital last week as she was...
10:49 PM, May 21, 2013
Kolkata: Saradha Group director and close associate of Sudipta Sen, Debjani Mukherjee was on Monday remanded in judicial custody till May 31 by the Bidhanagar court. Mukherjee, who failed to present herself before the Bidhanagar Court a few days back due to ill health, was produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Bidhannagar), who remanded her to judicial custody till May 31. Yesterday Sudipta Sen, chairman and managing director of...
11:03 PM, May 20, 2013
Kolkata: After two years of rule, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appears to have squandered the overwhelming mandate voters gave her, but as West Bengal gears up for panchayat polls, it seems that the TMC has the advantage as the Left is yet to regroup. Rattled by the Saradha meltdown and a spate of suicides, Trinamool faces the uphill task of addressing cries of lakhs of anguished investors and agents. With...
07:59 AM, May 20, 2013
Kolkata: In the backdrop of the chit fund scam, the State Bank of India on Saturday said Reserve Bank of India or Securities and Exchange Board of India should take up major campaigns to create awareness among investors being lured to ponzi schemes. "RBI...or SEBI should begin a major campaign in line with Jago Grahak Jago, woolmark or hallmark (gold) to create awareness among the investors about these ponzi schemes,"...
08:20 AM, May 19, 2013
Kolkata: West Bengal chit fund scam accused Sudipta Sen and Arvind Chauhan have been remanded to judicial custody till May 22. The court has reserved order on the third accused Debjani Mukherjee as she is in hospital. Mukherjee was admitted after complaining of stomach ailment. Meanwhile, Congress workers protested in Kolkata against TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, who is alleged to have links in the case. On Friday, the manager and...
04:23 PM, May 18, 2013
Bhubaneswar: At least 177 people were arrested in different parts of Odisha during the past week for their involvement in illegal money circulation and chit fund activities, a police official said on Friday. The crackdown on the firms began May 10, 2013 and about 200 offices of 84 companies were raided, Rajesh Kumar, deputy inspector general (economic offence wing) of the crime branch police, told IANS. The arrested include two...
05:45 AM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of recent chit fund controversy in West Bengal, a Parliamentary committee on Friday slammed such schemes with demands for putting in place a single regulator to oversee their functioning or scrapping them altogether. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance closely scrutinised the functioning of such schemes which recently led to a series of suicides in West Bengal. Senior officials from RBI, CBDT, SEBI, Corporate Affairs...
07:40 PM, May 17, 2013
Kolkata: West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee led government on Thursday released a performance report, claiming the state has clocked a growth rate higher than that of the overall country during the nearly two years it has been in power. The performance report showcasing the achievements of the state government was released at the state secretariat, four days before the regime completes two years in office. Making public the report titled "Powering...
11:35 PM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: The Saradha chit fund scam's suspected kingpin Sudipta Sen who earlier had reached out to the CBI accusing West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of complicity in the swindle, has now approached the court opposing probe by the central agency. Sen, now behind bars, has not only filed an affidavit in the Calcutta High Court expressing faith in the state government's investigation as opposed to a Central Bureau of Investigation...
10:30 PM, May 16, 2013
Bhubaneswar: After nabbing over 160 people across Odisha on charges of running or helping illegal money laundering, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch (CB), arrested two employees of Saradha Group on Thursday. The EOW took Basudev Samal and BN Das into custody on charge of helping Saradha Group chief to cheat gullible investors in Balasore district. While Samal was working as the branch manager of Saradha group's...
10:28 PM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: Observing that "time has not come" for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Saradha chit fund scam, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday refused to accept a plea in this regard but said it will consider it after fully hearing the matter. A bench of Justices AK Banerjee and MK Chowdhury, which on Thursday started hearing afresh a set of public interest litigations seeking a CBI...
07:55 PM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: Saradha group chairman Sudipta Sen, who has been accused of cheating lakhs of investors of their money running into thousands of crores, on Wednesday opposed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the complaints against him and his companies in an affidavit filed before the Calcutta High Court. He claimed before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi that the Special Investigation Team...
10:20 AM, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: Violence broke out on Tuesday at an anti-chit fund rally, held by Democratic Students Organisation (student wing of Socialist Unity Centre of India) in Kolkata. Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the participants of the rally, who were trying to hold a law violation programme. There are reports of injuries on both sides. More details are awaited. ...
03:35 PM, May 14, 2013
Critically acclaimed actor Rajesh Sharma, who has acted in films such as "Maachis", "Ishqiya", "No One Killed Jessica", "The Dirty Picture" and "Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana", joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on his future projects and his experience of acting in the Bengali film "Kagojer Nouka (Paper Boat)" which is based on the chit fund bust in eastern India. Q. Will this movie have English subtitle..for those who...
03:25 PM, May 14, 2013
Kolkata: A deposit firm agent committed suicide, while police quizzed a CEO of a company under the Saradha group banner Monday as West Bengal continued to grapple with the fallout of the chit fund scam, purported to be the biggest financial scandal to hit the state. Ujjwal Samaddar, 27, who worked for Sanmarg, a chit fund company, was found hanging on Sunday in his home in north 24 Parganas district's...
04:45 AM, May 14, 2013
Barasat: The chit fund scam in West Bengal claimed its twelfth victim on Monday with an agent of a ponzi scheme found hanging in his home at Basirhat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district. Police said the body of Ujjwal Samaddar, a 27-year-old agent of Sanmarg ponzi scheme, was found hanging in his home at Harishpur village on Monday morning. Samaddar's neighbours said a group of of depositors had...
08:29 PM, May 13, 2013
Jalpaiguri: A daily wage farm labourer on Monday allegedly attempted to commit suicide after losing money in Saradha chit fund scam. Sixteen-year-old Sahanur Rahman tried to end his life by drinking pesticide Monday morning at his home near here, the police said. He had invested Rs 75,000 with Saradha chit fund group after being lured by a promise of higher returns, sources said. He was in depression since the chit...
02:39 PM, May 13, 2013
