New Delhi: The administrative staff of Prasar Bharati-run Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) today called off their agitation following the assurances by the government that their grievance of unequal pays will be looked into by the Group of Ministers (GoM).

Nearly 7000 employees, agitating under the banner of Akashvani and Doordarshan Administrative Staff Association, went back to work today morning after the Minister of Information and Broadcasting P R Dasmunsi assured them that the issue of pay scales will be taken up in the next GoM meeting within a week. The administrative employees want their pays at par with engineering and programming employees, whose scales have been increased.

The relay hunger strike by the employees had entered into the third day yesterday as the government decided to work a way out. The issue of agitation of DD and AIR staff at all kendras and radio stations in the country was also raised in Parliament on Tuesday. The negotiations which went into late last night, by attended by Dasmunsi, senior IB ministry officials, Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli and the representative of the association.

"We have deferred our agitation after the minister gave us an assurance in black and white last night. We will wait for the outcome of the GoM's meeting," Sangam Thakur, general secretary of the employees association, told PTI.

Source : PTI