FIRST EVER GUJARAT STATE CONVENTION

ARTEE Gujarat unit organized first ever state convention in Ahmedabad on 16th November 2003. the convention organized in a very disciplined manner was a grand success all the way. Hon'ble Sh. Bhavin Seth, MLA from Elis Bridge, inaugurated the function. Sh. R.K. Gupta, E-in-C (Doordarshan) graced the function as Chief Guest. Other guests of honour were Sh. R. Krishnan, CE (West), Sh. S.R. Agarwal, DE(Personnel), Sh.Shravan Garg, Chief Editor,Divya Bhaskar and all the local senior officers of AIR , Doordarshan and DMC Ahmedabad.
Sh. Bhavin Seth, while appreciating the spirit of Engineering staff of electronic media for running the media uninterrupted during the earth-quake of 2000 and later during the violence after Godhara train incident of 2002, offered any help that the state govt. may provide to consolidate and expand the media in the state, including allocation of land and other facilities.
Sh. Gupta while welcoming the launch of the 24 hrs terrestrial news channel, was all praise for the DD staff who are working against odds, especially during these severe staff shortage periods. He expressed optimism that after the SIU report staff position may improve. Sh Gupta also announced that the long pending demand of shifting LPTV Modassa to a better site will be decided soon. He also announced that two numbers of HPTV's at Vadodara and Radhanpur will come up shortly and the uplinking will be digitized soon.
Sh. R. Krishnan, CE(WZ) assured all help in the staff matters. The gathering was also addressed by Sh. Shravan Garg, Chief Editor, Divya Bhaskar, a Hindi Daily. Sh. Garg was critical of DD authorities for taking the challenge of private media very lightly. A Data Book was also released by the Chief Guest to commemorate the occasion. The Data Book is an information bank, very useful for staff and officers.
Post Lunch Session was a unique experience for the staff. Both CE (WZ) and DE (Personnel) had a one to one question answer session. A number of staff problems, mainly regarding transfers, were solved on the spot. Sh. Krishnan was frank enough to answer in negative in certain cases. This 'Lok Adalat' session enthused and satisfied the staff members.
After the Lok Adalat, Mr. Thomas John, General Secretary, India Liaison Council of UNI, addressed the delegates and emphasized the need for unity amongst the workers community. He was all praise for this kind of Lok Adalat. He also quoted some examples in which employees of DoT got protection from ILO with the help of UNI.
Delegate session was held thereafter and continued till beyond 9 PM. This session was also held in a disciplined manner where zonal and central office bearers clarified many doubts raised by members. The organizing committee under the leadership of Sh. S.D. Rathod, Sh. Prabhakar Varshney and Sh. A.K. Mantri had to work under many constraints, but they came out with flying colours.

OBITUARY
With profound grief and sorrow, we regret to inform the sad and untimely demise of our esteemed colleague Sh. L. Kendrabi Singh (Technician), DDK Imphal (Manipur) on 21-12-2003 at his Sangolband Tera Lukram Leirak Imphal. Late Sh. L. Kendrabi Singh was a dedicated life member of ARTEE. Staff of the DDK-Imphal observed a two minute silence in memory of the departed soul. We pray to almighty to rest his soul in peace and give courage to the bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss of their dynamic son.