The 89.4 megahertz FM station, established in 2008 to air "pro-people" news, went out of operation after those from the party establishment faction took away the radio transmitter and other uplink devices and locked up the station office at Anamnagar at 11 p.m. Sunday.[break]
"We would like to inform that a team led by Bishnu Sapkota a.k.a. Jugal, former chairperson of Mechi-Kali Communications Pvt. Ltd., carried out looting at the radio station at Anamnagar at 11 p.m. on Oct 2, 2011," reads a press statement issued by Ghanashyam Shrestha, current chairperson of the media house, who is close to Maoist Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya.
Sapkota, who is close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was recently sacked as chairman of the radio station´s executive board by the hardliners, who are in a majority on the board.
"I am a founder of the organization. The devices were seized to end their monopoly at the radio station," said Sapkota.
In a similar incident in 2005, then king Gyanendra had sent the armed police to Kantipur FM Radio and to take away uplink devices.
According to Shrestha, the party establishment faction took away one radio transmitter, three computers, six hard disks and internet connectors, among other devices.
Shrestha demanded that the government immediately arrest Sapkota, FNJ branch chief at the radio station Shreedhar Neupane and Gopal Nepal for their involvement in the ´looting´.
Neupane, on the other hand, claimed that the FNJ branch was compelled to lock up the radio station as the media house had not paid the salaries of its journalists.
"…owing to internal conflict seen in the management, not only have there been disputes between the owners and workers, but the working journalists have not received their pay, and there is also no working environment at the radio station," reads a statement issued by Neupane.
He accused the party hardliners of forcing the journalists into writing pro-Baidya news, causing them mental torture, sacking news editor Ram Krishna Sharma for refusing to toe their line, and not paying the journalists so as to force them to quit their jobs, among other things. He likewise accused the management of transferring the radio station´s bank accounts to individuals close to themselves.
The lock at the station was opened in the presence of FNJ President Shiva Gaule, "after the FNJ president assured that he would form a panel to investigate the incident and resolve the problem," said Sapkota.
The Baidya faction has dismissed Neupane´s claim that journalists have not been paid their salaries.
Meanwhile, Pushpa Neupane, a member of the executive board from the Baidya faction, said that Hanuman Dhoka police declined to register their complaint. "They asked us to come next day, citing lack of details in our complaint. They must have been under pressure from party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal," Neupane said.
He said the Baidya faction could wait a few days if the police would return the seized devices. "Even if they don´t, we could hire some devices and resume the FM service," he said.
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