Anandabazar Patrika Group to lay off 40% of workforce

The downsizing of the conglomerate, which publishes two of eastern India’s most popular newspapers – the Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika and the English newspaper The Telegraph – includes jobs of both journalists and non-journalists and will begin with immediate effect. Quoting insiders, The Quint reported that the information related to this imminent job cut has been conveyed to employees informally. The ABP Group on Wednesday for the first time unveiled a part of its move after a notice was issued to all journalists covered by the Working Journalists Act and enjoying payscales fixed by the wage board. The notice informs that the journalists, whose services would no longer be required, would continue to get an amount equivalent to the basic pay at the present rate till the time of his or her retirement would have been due. The notice made it clear that all journalists who are under the wage board will have to accept the company's offer and will have to complete the formalities by January 15, 2017.

Bengal’s Iconic Anandabazar Patrika Group to Sack 40% of Its Staff https://t.co/b4kaTG6wub @TheQuint @abpnewstv @ttindia

— Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) December 11, 2016

ABP Group, however, is yet to make a public statement regarding the move. The Quint says repeated attempts for a comment from the conglomerate’s Associate Vice-President (Human Resource) Shiuli Biswas, on the matter elicited no response either. Though the company has not officially declared the number of employees who would be offered the 'golden handshake', there are indications that the number will be high. The move comes a few months after Aveek Sarkar, stepped down as editor-in-chief of the conglomerate’s two main publications, Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph, leaving his elder brother Arup Sarkar at the helm of affairs as chief editor. Arup Sarkar’s son Atideb was made executive director of ABP Group.

Bengal’s iconic Anandabazar Patrika group to sack 40% of its staffhttps://t.co/lTh0iFX3LW pic.twitter.com/GI1gSLhquo— The Quint (@TheQuint) December 10, 2016

Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph journalists privately told The Quint that the retrenchment would hit journalists across the line – those under the wage board, those under the company scale and contract workers. Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph have a combined total employee strength of a little more than 1,200. Besides, ABP’s news channel (in six languages including Bengali, Hindi and English) also have several employees. It is not clear how many of them would be asked to go. Besides retrenchment, the company has decided to bring down the page numbers of Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph. Also, a number of supplements for both newspapers have been suspended. For the last two years, the ABP Group has been in a bitter spat with the ruling Trinamool Congress and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, resulting in the state government stopping advertisements to the ABP's publications.