Wages due for months: Bengali TV serial actors, technicians lead by Prosenjit Chatterjee, Arindam Ganguly threaten to agitate

An organisation of actors andtechnicians of West Bengal on Saturday threatened to launch anagitation, if the due wages of around 180 of its members, whoare working in four Bengali TV serials, are not paidimmediately.

Their wages are due for several months and the cumulative amount has become Rs 1.33 crore, West Bengal Motion Picture Artists Forum, the apex body of television and filmartists and technicians in the state, said.

Holding a joint press conference here, the Fourm's Working President Prosenjit Chatterjee and General Secretary Arindam Ganguly said even after the four Bengali serials,themed on mythology, were handed over from one producer toanother, the wages due to the artistes and techniciansremained unpaid.

After taking over the four TV serials, the newproducer assured them that their wages remained safe with the channel, but they did not get it. "It very painful to the technicians and artistes,particularly those who are not so popular but contributeequally to the serials. If the issue is not resolved soon, we will resort to agitation," Chatterjee and Ganguly said.

The previous producer of the four TV serials also didnot deposit Rs 20-25 lakh deducted as TDS from the salary ofthe technicians to the government, the two office bearers ofthe Forum claimed. In 2018 also there was a stalemate for non-payment ofwages of TV serial artistes and it was resolved followingintervention of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Chatterjee said they were also thinking about takingup the issue with the state government, if it was not resolvedsoon. The producer of the four TV serials could not becontacted.