Technicians' Studio (Amendment) Bill likely to be tabled in Assembly soon

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government is likely to table The Technicians' Studio Private Limited (Amendment) Bill, 2019, at the ongoing Assembly session for the purpose of vesting better superintendence, direction, control and management of the affairs and business of the studio.

The Bill is aimed at simplifying its operation and making provisions for better control of the state government over the affairs of the Technicians' Studio. According to the Bill, the state government will constitute a board in this regard, which will be named West Bengal Board for Technicians' Studio.

The board, consisting of seven members, will be headed by a chairman who shall be the minister in charge of Information and Cultural Affairs (I&CA) department, or any other minister appointed by the Chief Minister. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself holds charge of the I&CA department and is likely to be the chairman of the board.

The board will also consist of a vice-chairman, appointed by the state government and members in the form of secretary of I&CA, secretary of Finance department, joint secretary of I&CA, one officer below the rank of joint secretary of I&CA and three other persons from the film or television industry in the state, as nominated by the state government. According to the Bill, the estimated annual financial application for constitution of the board is Rs 19,37,000, which will be borne by the Technicians' Studio from its revenue.

Recently, BJP in the state has launched two organisations for the Bengali film and television industry, which has been a stronghold of the ruling Trinamool Congress.