English News Channel Tiranga TV, which was launched just before the Lok Sabha elections, seems to have run into rough weather as the channel has started retrenching employees. According to several people who claim to be working at the channel backed by Congress leader Kapil Sibal, they have been fired from their jobs with just one month’s salary.

A Twitter account set up by the fired employees with the name Fired Employee Tiranga TV said that they are being asked to leave the company without any clarity and with just one month’s salary, instead of the standard practice of paying three month’s salary. They also tweeted that Kapil Sibal had assured them that the channel will run for two years, that’s why the employees had joined it.

#KapilSirNaukriDo @KapilSibal Ji, We employees of @NewsHtn (Tiranga TV) r being fired with just 1 mnth salary & without any clarity. V would want to meet u as no one frm management has addressed us. @INCIndia @RahulGandhi @PrakashJavdekar @IndEditorsGuild @ShekharGupta @BJP4India — Fired Employee Tiranga TV (@FiredTv) July 2, 2019

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Kapil sibal gave assurance channel would run for two years so we all came. Now they arent even ready to pay industry norm of three months despite his earning crores. @KapilSibal @newslaundry @OpIndia_com @SwarajyaMag @INCIndia @BJP4India — Fired Employee Tiranga TV (@FiredTv) July 2, 2019

Several other people working at Tiranga TV also confirmed on Twitter that employees of the channel are being fired.

@KapilSibal Ji, We the employees of @NewsHtn (Tiranga TV) are being fired with just 1 month salary and without any clarity. We would want to meet with you as no one from management has addressed us. @INCIndia @RahulGandhi @PrakashJavdekar @IndEditorsGuild @ShekharGupta @BJP4India — Ravi Anand Pathak (@ErRaviAnand1) July 2, 2019

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The employees also alleged that nobody from management has addressed them, and demanded to meet Kapil Sibal.

We the employees of @NewsHtn (Tiranga TV) are being fired with just 1 month salary and without any clarity. We would want to meet with @KapilSibal as no one from management has addressed us. @INCIndia @RahulGandhi @PrakashJavdekar @IndEditorsGuild @ShekharGupta @BJP4India — Sushil Immanuel Kotian (@kotiansushil) July 2, 2019

Tiranga TV had originally started as Harvest TV, causing a huge confusion as a Christian Evangelist channel with the same name was already operating from Kerala. The original Harvest TV had even filed a suit against the News Channel, but that was settled after it was renamed as Tiranga TV. Controversial journalists Barkha Dutt and Karan Thapar are part of the channel.

It is not known whether these firings are just downsizing or indication of something worse. The channel was launched almost silently without any grand announcement, and never gained any substantial viewership in the very small niche of English News Channels. Many people on social media have commented that it is a temporary channel launched during elections like Namo TV, and it will shut down soon.