Pune: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has announced that it would take up the issue of proposed closure of Marathi news section of AIR, Pune. 

MNS leader Anil Shidore while speaking to Sakal Times said that this move shows how the Centre does not give any importance to Marathi language and culture. Shidore added that MNS will pursue this issue and persuade the government against doing so. 

After Sakal Times reported that Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani will be looking into the alleged move towards closure of Regional News Unit (RNU) of All India Radio (AIR), the casuals working at RNU claimed that they were worried about Indian Information Service officers who had the mandate to manage news units at seven RNUs at Bhuj, Calicut, Dharwad, Dibrugarh, Indore, Tiruchirapally, Pune under the pretext of restructuring media units. 

Sources said that top officials at AIR have even shown the the willingness from its programme cadre to manage the RNUs. The sources close to RNU said that this will result in unprofessionalism and will result in a violation of AIR manual. 

Pune MP Anil Shirole had written a letter to Irani on July 18 this year. Shirole, while speaking to Sakal Times from Delhi, said that he has submitted a detailed letter to the Minister of I&B, requesting her to consider shifting of Marathi national news bulletin to Pune instead of Mumbai.