Artistes, technicians and producers of the Tollygunge television industry joined hands on Wednesday to form a committee against channels that play truant while paying their video producers.

The committee formed by Artistes’ Forum and the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India includes actors Prosenjit and Sabyasachi Chakraborty and start functioning from November 20.

The 11-member panel was formed after artists and technicians threatened to stop work from Wednesday to protest Zee Bangla and Akaash’s failure to pay 19 video producers for eight months.

“Channels missing payment dates has been a recurring problem since last year. The agreements vary from channel to channel — some are supposed to pay up within a month while others get two months. But Zee Bangla and Akaash didn’t pay their producers for eight months,” said Partha Kar, the secretary of the federation and convener of the committee.

Kar said the producers had sent a notice to the channels in July regarding the dues but the channels allegedly “did not bother”.

“On Monday we decided to stop work from November 11. Soon after, the channels met us and assured us of clearing 90 per cent of the outstanding amount. So we called off the ceasework,” Kar said.

The producers said the channels cleared 90 per cent of their dues on Wednesday. The committee will mainly act as a platform for TV producers to voice their grievances against channels in the future.

Sanjoy Chatterjee, the senior vice-president and business head of Zee Bangla, said: “We have several retail activities that are handled by unorganised authorities and until we receive payment from them we cannot pay our producers.”