Y'know I'll be honest, when I first heard the plans of Sakaal Times, I found the plans a bit bombastic. Mind you, the media boom was still going on and products were still being launched left, right and centre. Newsprint prices had climbed to ridiculous levels but that really didn't stop anyone.
In the midst of this, the plans for creating this western India behemoth - in an arc stretching from Delhi through Jaipur and Ahmedabad and other Gujarati cities through all of the smaller cities in Western half of Maharashtra all the way to Bombay. Several editions were planned, launching in quick succession, starting with Goa and Pune. But just as they launched the market began to show signs of distress, the fact they launched at all was a miracle given the fact that a Delhi bureau brought out the paper. However, this was bound to create problems given that journalists have fragile egos and are more territorial than a bitch in heat.
Anyway, lets not do too much post facto analysis, we're doing too much of that with regards to HT already today and the surgical takedown of UndieTV's woeful coverage will be done later this week. The fact remained that Sakaal was just not sustainable and while Sharad Pawar and his family have undoubtedly become rich on Maharashtra and India's back, the family, and for this you must laud some of the chaps at Sakaal Times. They managed to rip off the Pawar's - an unheard of achievement.
But back to the point, the guys at Sakaal were decent, hard working chaps who deserved better than to be locked out. Are they the best people in the business? Maybe not but in hindsight, you can say that the paper was a doomed project from Day 1 and some of us who were a bit more pessimistic even earlier. But still they deserved better. Anyway, these 61 are talking of taking legal action. But I believe that talks are underway, and the guys might settle for five-six months of salary at the talks and I wish them the best. But given the times, getting new jobs might be nearly impossible for many of them, especially those in their late-30's and older given that a lot of places have a senior level hiring freeze on. But I will keep you posted though given the cash resources of the Pawar's and how the NCP 'claims' they got naresh G to take back the Jet employees this stinks of hypocrisy. But then again, these guys are politicians and the NCP is a party which thinks of things like this as small incidents akin to a few Bihari's being bashed!
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Hi Friends. Do you remember the BiTV lockout? Something worse than that happened on the 30th of November, 2008. Sakaal Times, the English daily brought out in May (renaming the existing Maharashtra Herald) by the Sakal group of Pune (of the Marathi daily Sakal fame) and helmed by wannabe media baron Abhijit Pawar (nephew of NCP leader, Union Minister and former BCCI president Sharad Pawar), suddenly decided to close down its Delhi operations without any prior intimation to any of its employees, making nearly 80 people jobless at one go.
Those impacted are not worthless people – all of them had left secure jobs in respected media houses to join what sounded like an ambitious media venture from one of the most-respected media houses of Maharashtra. The plans were big – following the Pune edition, there will be editions from places like (Navi) Mumbai, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and even a small edition from Delhi. The paper looked impressive – with well thought-out stories and a nice design. “Welcome to the Sakal family. Here all employees are treated like family members. Please visit our Pune headquarters sometime to know how we work like a family,” were the golden words from Arun Barera, the CEO of the Sakal Media Group during his interaction with a bunch of us around July-August, when the paper’s Delhi office was still in APCA House in NOIDA. APCA, helmed by Dilip Padgaonkar and Anikendra Nath (Badshah) Sen, had taken charge of recruiting people and launching the venture as a BOT project. They did the job nicely and handed over the project to the Sakal group on November 1, 2008. Everything seemed good for all of us.
Then since about a month ago, things began to go wrong – about 8-10 people were asked to leave, but resident editor Dhananjay Sardeshpande called in groups to assure that nobody from the news bureau and features would be touched. “Our plans have got delayed because of the market condition, but we will launch our Delhi edition by the end of this fiscal and our other plans are still there. We need all you people to be part of our vision,” he told us. Just about two days ago, one colleague, who called him up, was told by Anand Agashe, director-editor of the newspaper, that whatever rumours were floating around were baseless. He, of course, said there will be a reduction of the number of pages, and a decision would be taken around December 2-3.
Suddenly, in the morning of November 30, a “Notice”, actually a print out on a blank sheet of paper (not the company letterhead), signed by an “authorized signatory” whose name or designation was not mentioned, was found pasted on the locked gates of the premises at the 1st floor of Pratap Bhawan on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, saying the Delhi operations are being wound up. The letter was dated November 30, while the termination notice, with a cheque for part of our salaries for this month and one more month (minus the allowances which are paid against bills submitted) were sent through speed post to all of us individually at our residence addresses from Pune on November 29 (some of us got the mails on December 1 while others are yet to get their individual copies).
The so-called ‘Notice’ said:
“ (For the information of the employees working for Sakaal Times)
Subject – Operations of Sakaal Times at Delhi
The new daily is incurring heavy expenses on Delhi operations resulting into substantial losses to the company. You are aware that this is further compounded by the present serious downtrend in the economy. Due to the dame the circulation and the revenue generation of the newspaper has been seriously affected. Due to this it has become inevitable for the company to restructure its operations. On account of the said restructuring the Editorial work so far carried out at Delhi is no longer required to be continued. As a result, the operations are stopped forthwith and the persons working for Sakaal Times operations are being relieved. The necessary communication has already been sent to the individual employees on their postal address registered with the company. The relevant employees need not attend the office from today onwards.
The work of Magazines and TV will continue after some modifications of the premises for which the same will be closed for few days.
For Sakal Papers limited
Authorized Signatory”
There was a rubber stamp of Sakal Papers Limited, New Delhi affixed next to the illegible signature, which looked like an “A”.
Agitated employees gathered during the day itself on Sunday, Nov 30, to discuss the matter. Quite astonishingly, colleagues who were working till late night on Nov 29 had no inkling of what was going to happen in the morning. In fact, one colleague was in Rajasthan covering the elections there when the lock out was announced!
The employees, finding that the premises have been locked out with some of their valuable belongings inside (eg, bank pass books, cheque books, etc.) decided to register a complaint with the IP Estate Police Station regarding this. Photo Editor K K Laskar, as the convenor of the committee of Sakaal Times employees formed to fight the sudden lockout, registered the complaint. Till then, nobody who has a say in Sakaal Times – Abhijit Pawar, Anand Agashe, Arun Barera, Dhananjay Sardeshpande, HR director Pradeepkumar Khire – picked up numerous phone calls made by senior journalists who wanted to find out the exact situation. But within one hour of filing the police complaint, Pawar called up Laskar, claiming there had been a “communication gap” and things should not have been done as they have been. He “requested” Laskar to ask all employees to come to office on Monday, December 2, to discuss the matter with a team from Pune.
Almost at the same time, Pawar, Khire, Agashe gave contradictory and false statements to media persons who contacted them on the developments. (From Mint - http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/01010229/8216Sakaal-Times8217-shu.html - “Abhijit Pawar, managing director of the 76-year-old Sakaal Media Group, said staffers had been informed earlier. “It has just been brought to my attention that the communication hadn’t reached everyone, and I’m sorry if that is the case. I have been told that a communication had been made informally to senior members of the staff in Delhi and it was supposed to have reached everyone. Everyone is being adequately compensated,” Pawar added”.) Just look at the casual stance he has taken. Saying just a mere “sorry” for snatching the livelihoods of around 80 people. Just look at the way he claims “I have been told….”. Do you “informally” communicate to senior staff or any staff members about a lock out (which anyway is a blatant lie as there was no such communication to anyone)? “It was supposed to reach….” The sheer insensitiveness of this man seeps through every word of his quote.
(from IANS - http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20081130/836/tbs-delhi-operations-of-sakaal-times-clo.html - “Sakal Papers' Director, Human Resources and Operations, Pradip Khire denied the charge of the staff that they had not been informed about the impending closure. 'It was communicated to them that their services are no more required and their dues are being settled,' Khire told IANS in Pune.”). Another blatant lie. Can he provide any proof that staff had been informed about the closure? Even the “termination of contract” letter received by some people on December 1 (posted on Nov 29, but received only by some on Dec 1) does not mention anything about the closure. It only talks about the company’s “right” to “terminate your services without assigning any reason by giving one month’s notice or a notice pay in lieu of notice… the company has decided to exercise this right and is terminating your contractual employment w.e.f 30-11-2008 after working hours”.
Where is the mention of the lockout? Can you find another such example of fork-tongued speak?
As we all know, there is a standard procedure for lock outs. Businesses may and do go bad, but the way Sakaal Times has done it, is pure evil. If it reminds everyone of how some Chit Fund Operators vanish after pocketing money of investors, well, you are not at fault. Any ethical company would have taken its employees into confidence, told them that they would have to shut down, and would have given them at least a month’s time so that they can look out for alternative jobs. But this is what a 75-year-old media group does.
Please forward this to all media persons you know
This is what an aghast observer wrote to various e-groups:
From: Ram Singh ramsinghstdelhi at gmail dot com
Date: Nov 30, 2008 6:37 PM
Subject: Sakaal Times Delhi journalists to move court agains lock-out
To:
On Sunday, 30 November 2007, journalists with Sakaal Times in Delhi
were shocked to find the office locked and a lock-out notice put up.
Their anger is not so much about the shut down but that the Sakaal
management did not inform them personally. Their belongings are
inside, they have no idea about salary and compensation, and of course
jobs to look for in an industry no longer booming. Senior Pune
management have switched off their phones. The lock-out is illegal as
they have not followed labour laws. The journalists have formed an
action committee that plans to move court. The nearly 50 journalists
are angry and aghast at such despicable treatment. This is an insult
to journalists all over India who should rise to the occasion and send
their condemnation to Sakal Papers Ltd. This is a paper with deep
pockets thanks to its Marathi print monopoly. Its owner is Ahijit
Pawar, nephew of NCP leader and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar,
whose daughter Supriya Sule is on the board of Sakal Papers Ltd.
Please circulate widely.
============ ======
The notice:
NOTICE
(For the information of the employees working for Sakaal Times)
Subject - Operations of Sakaal Times at Delhi
The new daily is incurring heavy expenses on Delhi operations
resulting into substantial losses to the company. You are aware that
this is further compounded by the present serious downtrend in the
economy. Due to the same the circulation and the revenue generation of
the newspaper has been seriously affected. Due to this it has become
inevitable for the company to restructure its operations. On account
of the said restructuring the Editorial work so far carried out at
Delhi is no longer required to be continued. As a result, the
operations are stopped forthwith and the persons working for Sakaal
Times operations are being relieved. The necessary communication has
already been sent to the individual employees on their postal address
registered with the Company. The relevant employees need not attend
the office from today onwards.
The work of Magazines and TV will continue after some modifications of
the premises for which the same will be closed for few days.
For Sakal Papers Limited
[signed and stamped]
Authorized Signatory
==========
Please note that the authorised signatory is not named. The resident
editor, Dhananjay Sardeshpande, had not been coming to office for the
past week.
The employees have formed an action committee under the leadership of
Op-Ed pages editor Yogesh Vajpeyi and the Convener is chief
photographer KK Laskar.
Yogesh Vajpeyi - yogesh.vajpeyi@ gmail.com - 9818033223
KK Laskar - k.k.laskar@gmail. com – 9868164433
This is just for information of all media people, because if in future this group tries to hire you, beware and don’t fall for its so-called reputation.
It’s a den of cheats and liers.
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