AIR, DD to get a facelift in North East

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Guwahati, June 21: The All India Radio (AIR) and the Doordarshan will get a major facelift in the North East and improve its efficiency with latest hardware and software technologies for better quality and reach.

Besides, there is also a plan for a new television channel for the North East.

Elaborating the decision, recently announced by Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, CEO of Prasar Bharati K S Sharma in a news conference here today, said that maximum emphasis has been given on the upgradation of AIR services.

He gave details of the Rs 350 crore package sanctioned to the region as a whole which included the upgradation of the Chinsura relay station at the cost of Rs 42 crores. The 1 MW transmitter shall be covering a radius of around 250-kilometer.

Besides that 19 more FM stations are being set up in all the states except Sikkim. They are Daporijio, Anini, Bomdilla, Changlang and Khonsa in Arunachal Pradesh while Ukhrul Tameleng in Manipur.

Further in Meghalaya, the new FM station is coming up at Dawki while Mizoram would get a station in Tuping, Champai and Kolashib. In Nagaland such FM stations were being set up at Zuneboto, Phek while in Tripura it would be in Udaipur and Nutan Bazar.

''In North East, AIR has greater reach and the FM is the 'in' thing at this moment. We are also setting up a high power FM station in Gangtok,'' said Mr. Sharma adding that around 1000 work force would be required to run the show and all would be employed as contractual employees.

In regard of the Doordarshan, he announced that one more channel for the North East is in the offing. ''The rationale for the new channel is that other states are not getting their programe during the prime time in the existing DD 13 channel,'' he said. The DD 13 is a regional channel of the Dordarshan whose visibility is very poor, the CEO admitted.

''But there will be one more channel and it will be a 24 hours channel'' he said adding that Rs 172 crores have been sanctioned for the upgradation of the hardware for the Doordarshan Kendra and another Rs 122 crores have been released for software development.

UNI

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