{"id":4626,"date":"2025-07-09T19:09:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2025\/07\/09\/ptv-radio-pakistan-crisis\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T19:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:24:09","slug":"ptv-radio-pakistan-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2025\/07\/09\/ptv-radio-pakistan-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"PTV and Radio Pakistan Face Debt Wages Scandal and Urgent Calls for Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"
PTV and Radio Pakistan Drown in Debt, Unpaid Wages, and Property Scandals: Senators Demand Urgent Reform<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Nadeem Tanoli<\/em><\/p>\n

Islamabad: Pakistan Television (PTV) and Radio Pakistan are facing a deepening financial crisis, with lawmakers calling out mismanagement, unpaid salaries, bloated staffing, and criminal neglect of state-owned properties during a Senate Standing Committee meeting. The session laid bare how both national broadcasters are being run into the ground, raising urgent questions about accountability and survival.<\/p>\n

PTV\u2019s collapse began with the federal government\u2019s decision to discontinue the\u00a0discourse fee<\/strong>, a move that instantly erased\u00a0Rs 11 billion in annual revenue<\/strong>. Lawmakers were stunned to learn that the broadcaster now relies on only\u00a0Rs 5 billion in advertising<\/strong>, with no credible plan to bridge the massive gap. “Whoever made this decision clearly never thought of the consequences,” remarked one senator. \u201cHow does PTV survive without income? Through magic?\u201d<\/p>\n

Committee members grilled PTV officials over rising costs and shrinking performance. Salary expenditures ballooned from\u00a0Rs 475 million in 2022 to Rs 820 million in 2025<\/strong>, even as the organization\u00a0employs more pensioners (3,765) than regular staff (3,560)<\/strong>. Add another\u00a01,173 contractual workers<\/strong>, and the wage bill becomes unsustainable. The government has already slashed\u00a0anchor salaries over Rs 500,000 by 20%<\/strong>, and\u00a084 ghost employees were recently fired<\/strong>, including some who never even checked in via biometric systems.\u00a0Another 280 workers with fake degrees are under review for termination<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But lawmakers remained unconvinced. \u201cWhy are you still hiring while drowning in debt? Why are pension liabilities larger than the workforce?\u201d one member asked sharply. “If this isn\u2019t a case for privatization, what is?”<\/p>\n

PTV’s digital progress was also dismissed as symbolic at best. Officials said they earned just\u00a0Rs 1.9 million through YouTube and other social platforms<\/strong>\u2014a laughably small sum compared to the billions in losses. Parliamentarians urged either\u00a0privatization<\/strong>\u00a0or listing the broadcaster on the\u00a0stock exchange<\/strong>\u00a0to bring in outside investment and improve transparency.<\/p>\n

Radio Pakistan fared no better. The committee heard disturbing reports of\u00a0illegal occupation of its heritage buildings<\/strong>, including the\u00a0historic Karachi headquarters<\/strong>, once occupied by Rangers and now lying empty. In Malir,\u00a0unauthorized tenants have taken over servant quarters<\/strong>, using\u00a0Radio Pakistan’s electricity<\/strong>\u00a0via\u00a0kunda systems<\/strong>\u00a0and living\u00a0rent-free<\/strong>. “Who is responsible for guarding national property?” one senator asked, demanding a full\u00a0survey of all Radio properties nationwide<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Employees across both institutions are bearing the brunt of the chaos.\u00a0Security guards and staff haven\u2019t been paid in four months<\/strong>, while top anchors and bureaucrats continue to draw large salaries. Committee members were furious that the same organizations begging for federal support have done little to fix internal corruption and misuse of resources.<\/p>\n

The committee demanded full records: a\u00a0five-year employment breakdown<\/strong>, a\u00a0detailed deficit report<\/strong>, and a\u00a0recovery plan<\/strong>. Officials were also told to explain why\u00a0historic studios remain closed<\/strong>,\u00a0boosters lie underutilized<\/strong>, and\u00a0drama archives are being sold unofficially online<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In closing, senators issued a warning: If leadership at PTV and Radio Pakistan fails to show serious reform, the government must stop funding failure. \u201cNo more blank cheques,\u201d one member declared. \u201cIt\u2019s time to face the music.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PTV and Radio Pakistan Drown in Debt, Unpaid Wages, and Property Scandals: Senators Demand Urgent Reform Nadeem Tanoli Islamabad: Pakistan Television (PTV) and Radio Pakistan are facing a deepening financial crisis, with lawmakers calling out mismanagement, unpaid salaries, bloated staffing, and criminal neglect of state-owned properties during a Senate Standing Committee meeting. The session laid …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4626"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4636,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions\/4636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}