Allow Al Jazeera in India: Faleiro

Panaji, Feb 25: Goa NRI Affairs Commissioner and former external affairs minister Edurdo Faleiro has urged the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to allow the broadcast of Al Jazeera satellite TV channel in India with immediate effect.

Mr Faleiro, who was recently in the Gulf countries, said the channel with the ''balanced international news coverage provides a new option to Indian viewers beyond the conventional BBC and CNN''. Addressing a press conference here today, he said he had already written to I and B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi in this regard requesting him to do the needful, given the speed with which the channel was gaining popularity worldwide.

''I was made to understand that Al Jazeera, which has 24-hour news and current affairs programme of the highest global quality in English, is facing some difficulties in transmitting its programmes in India,'' he added.

UNI