NEW DELHI: Neelam Kapur, who has been holding the post of principal director general of media and communication of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), has been shifted to the directorate of field publicity (DFP).

Highly placed sources said Frank Noronha, posted in the DFP as director general, has been brought in her place.

These sources said that while Kapur has not been demoted as she retains her position of principal DG which is of secretary level, the DFP is seen as an office lower in stature to that of PIB, where she was the official spokesperson of the government.

Kapur had taken over in December 2008 after Deepak Sandhu’s retirement. Kapur’s removal could be seen as a move made because she was appointed at the time of the united progressive alliance government.

Frank Noronha, a 1982-batch officer of the Indian Information Service, was earlier in PIB.

There has been no formal announcement so far of these changes.

He has worked as information officer in various ministries and has served as deputy press secretary in the Rashtrapati Bhavan during his long tenure, apart from heading the directorate of advertising and visual publicity immediately prior to his posting in DFP.

Doordarshan News additional director general SM Khan who was heading DD News has been put on compulsory wait, and Archana Dutta who is director general (News) in All India Radio, has been given additional charge of Doordarshan News.

During the run-up to the elections, Khan was reported to have delayed the transmission of Narendra Modi's interview to Doordarshan. Answering a query about editing out certain portions, he had said this was done only because of references made about people who had not been given an opportunity to have their say.