PESHAWAR, Dec 4: The artists of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, Peshawar Centre have complained of low payments and said their wages had not been revised for eight years to their misery.

Among the disgruntled lot are newscasters, hosts, singers, musicians, naatkhwans and others offering their voice to radio for different programmes.

It is learnt that last year, the centre had requested PBC headquarters in writing for revision of the wages of artists but the request had been pending approval since.

Some newscasters at the centre told Dawn that they worked for seven to 14 days a month against the payment of Rs3,000 each, an amount, which was not commensurate with their work involving tiring rehearsals.

They said their repeated requests for better payment fell on deaf ears.

According to them, even the full amount of the due payment is not made to them.

“For translation of news from one language to another, we’re paid Rs200. Some of us do both translation and news reading but are paid Rs400 each instead of Rs500. No reason is cited as a reason for this Rs100 deduction,” a newscaster said.Like newsreaders, musicians, too, complained of low payments.

They said a new, good Pashto song fetched Rs15,000 at Pakistan Television and Rs20,000 in the open market, but PBC offered Rs1,000 only for it.

According to them, better wages can help improve the quality of PBC, Peshawar programmes and thus, helping the centre meet the challenge posed by the booming electronic media.

Insiders said PBC often cited financial constraints as a reason for payment of low wages to artists but ironically, it recently regularised the services of 500 contractual employees besides giving a 100 per cent increase in conveyance allowance to 4,000 employees.

They said salary and privileges of regular employees were increased thrice during the corresponding period.

The PBC artists said many of them had to stay on the premises at night in connection with their assignments but were denied proper payments.

They said had there been an association to protect their rights, they would have been paid properly.

When contacted, PBC, Peshawar Director Laiqzada Laiq confirmed that a proposal on better wages for artists at the centre had been pending approval of the corporation’s headquarters for one year.

He said once the proposal was approved, appropriate payments would be paid to artists.

“The centre is an academy for artists in the province. Many noted artists began career from here and later won national and international prizes only due to their learning here,” he said.

Mr Laiq said the centre paid handsome wages to senior artists working in various fields with an aim to produce effective and quality programmes.

He, however, said the main focus was on the grooming of local talent. “The government wants to make handsome payments to artistes and is considering various proposals on better wages to artistes,” he said. —Ashfaq Yusufzai