Andaman: Package for expansion of Doordarshan

Port Blair, July 13: A special package for expansion and improvement of Doordarshan services in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been extended by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Under the scheme, 1000 C-band Dish TV sets will be available here free of cost to be used by various public institutions of these remote archipelago, P K Subhash, Director of Doordarshan Kendra Port Blair, told the sources today.

A high level meeting was held recently to discuss the matter of expansion and augmentation of DD services in the islands.

The meeting was attended by the Director, DDK, Port Blair and DD Engineers, besides the officials of Information and Publicity Division, Andaman&Nicobar Administration.

Six out of the eight new Very Low Power Transmitter (VLPT) will be installed by December this year in order to ensure better reception of Doordarshan programmes, one each at Kadamtala, Long Island, Harinagar, Neil Island, Ramakrishnapur and Govindnagar, Subhash said.

Remaining two VLPTs will come up three to four months later at Chowra and Gandhinagar. Similarly, the exisiting VLPTs in Diglipur, Mayabunder, Rangat, Hut Bay, Nancowry and Campbell Bay are to be upgraded soon to augment the services, he added.

It has also been proposed to distribute the Dish TVs (DTH) to all the 67 Panchayats, nine tehsils, panchayat samities, health centers, schools and other educational institutions and government offices in different parts of the islands.

Before installation of Dish TVs, which are expected to be available by the end of this year, the uplinking facilities from Delhi to Port Blair will have to be completed. Once this is done, the people of remote and far-flung places will be able to see the local programmes telecast by Doordarshan, Port Blair, Mr Subhash said.

The facilities of DTH is being planned to be extended to the remotest part of the islands in order to keep the people informed instantaneously about the latest development.

Through this service, information relating to disaster preparedness during natural calamity can be beamed. The DTH service promises to provide multi-channel coverage with at least 10 TV channels through DTH C-Band, he added.

UNI