NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati, in the process to fill nine vacant positions in its 13-member board, has announced the name of four new part-time members: music composer Salim Merchant, BJP spokesperson Shaina NC, Dainik Jagran editor-in-chief Sanjay Gupta and media professional Alok Agrawal. 

Another addition to the new board is senior journalist Ashok Tandon who was also the media advisor to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. His tenure got over the last year and he is the only former member of the board to join the new team. 

Sources close to the development also shared that a discussion on the appointent of the chairman also took part in Monday’s meeting. The post has been vacant since A Surya Prakash retired in February last year. 

Prasar Bharati, a statutory autonomous body under the ministry of information & broadcasting, was set up to oversee the functioning of Doordarshan and All India Radio. The board decides all matters related to general administration of the broadcaster, and is headed by the chairman who is picked by a committee headed by the vice president of India and comprising I&B secretary and Press Council of India chairman.