English News Channel Tiranga TV, which was launched just before the Lok Sabha elections, seems to have run into rough weather as the channel has started retrenching employees. According to several people who claim to be working at the channel backed by Congress leader Kapil Sibal, they have been fired from their jobs with just one month’s salary.
A Twitter account set up by the fired employees with the name Fired Employee Tiranga TV said that they are being asked to leave the company without any clarity and with just one month’s salary, instead of the standard practice of paying three month’s salary. They also tweeted that Kapil Sibal had assured them that the channel will run for two years, that’s why the employees had joined it.
https://twitter.com/FiredTv/status/1145986537806417921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
https://twitter.com/FiredTv/status/1146000005037039616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Several other people working at Tiranga TV also confirmed on Twitter that employees of the channel are being fired.
https://twitter.com/ErRaviAnand1/status/1145977930553708544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The employees also alleged that nobody from management has addressed them, and demanded to meet Kapil Sibal.
https://twitter.com/kotiansushil/status/1145992106906935297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Tiranga TV had originally started as Harvest TV, causing a huge confusion as a Christian Evangelist channel with the same name was already operating from Kerala. The original Harvest TV had even filed a suit against the News Channel, but that was settled after it was renamed as Tiranga TV. Controversial journalists Barkha Dutt and Karan Thapar are part of the channel.
It is not known whether these firings are just downsizing or indication of something worse. The channel was launched almost silently without any grand announcement, and never gained any substantial viewership in the very small niche of English News Channels. Many people on social media have commented that it is a temporary channel launched during elections like Namo TV, and it will shut down soon.