GUWAHATI, Jan 3 — The new year will see a major boost in television services in the North East as national broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) has embarked on a massive service expansion programme in the region. DD Director General SY Quraishi announced this evening that DD will observe the next financial year as the ‘Year of the North East’.
Quraishi, who is here, along with senior officials of Prasar Bharati, to review the working of DD’s North East division, told a press conference that by March this year there will be 15-minute bulletins in all the eight States of the region. Some States may have the bulletins starting as early as January 26, he said.
The DG informed that a Rs 327 crore package for the creation of both hardware and software for DD in the North East has been planned. Apart from fresh programming, DD will set up a whole range of transmitters and TV studios in the region. At present, there is only one full production facility in the region — PPC, Guwahati. The DG said that efforts will be made to make the other States ‘independent’ so that other NE centres do not have to depend on the Guwahati facility.
With a view to improving the DD coverage in the region, there is a plan to start KU band transmissions (direct to home) in the North East, Quraishi said. He said that because of the peculiar topography there are a lot of areas which do not receive DD signals. KU band transmission will overcome that problem.
Terming DD as a sleeping giant that has woken up, Qurashi said that DD is the largest media vehicle in the country with its viewership far outstripping the coverage of other channels. Some 259 million people watch DD he said. The DG said that DD will also set up signal receiving centres in 160 villages in the region, 20 in each State, which will act as cable TV operators.
The DG also announced that DD will organise a music festival in the region in February to promote the musical talent of the region. The festival, being organised in association with the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghatan (NYKS), will have State-wise musical contest out of which two State teams will be selected to participate in the final contest among the 16 teams at New Delhi. The presentation will be recorded and promoted internationally, he said.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation of India (PBBCI) KS Sharma, who was also present, announced that a North East zone has been created meeting a long-pending demand of the employees of the corporation.
Sharma said that the North East package will focus on producing more programmes. DD will spend Rs 22 crore on programming while All India Radio (AIR) will spend another Rs 2 crore. The money will be spent by March 31, this year, he informed. He said that applications for producing programmes are already being processed. Malpractices in allocating programmes to producers will not be allowed, he asserted. The DD North East channel has only six hours of original programming, he said, with the rest being repeat telecasts.
Sharma, however, refused to accept the demand being made by regional producers that programmes for the North East should be produced by them. “It cannot be done but we will allot maximum projects to them” he assured. The CEO said that local talents will be encouraged.
Sharma also announced that at least four FM radio channels will be started in the North East by the next three months providing stereo transmission. Everything is set for the four stations at Agartala (10 kw), Imphal (10 kw), Shillong (10 kw) and Aizwal (6 kw). Only the manpower to run the operations are to be recruited, he said. AIR will spend Rs 30 crore during 2002-03 in its North East expansion plan, he said. The CEO also announced that the National Channel of AIR which is running on the medium wave now covering about 70 per cent of the population, will be put on the short wave to cover the entire country.
DD Engineer-in-chief KL Gupta said that DD will create new infrastructure, worth Rs 204 crore, in the North East. Nine high power DD transmitters will be set up in Kokrajhar, Tezpur and Jorhat in Assam, Dimapur in Nagaland, Jowai in Meghalaya, Pasighat, Bomdila and Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh and Champhai in Mizoram. There will also be 21 new LPTs and VLPTs. Uplinking facilities will be added to all State capitals in the region so that there can be State-wise networks, he said. He also said that HPTs to transmit DD 2 programmes will be operational in all the State capitals by March. Currently, Guwahati, Agartala and Silchar have the facility.
Meanwhile, the two-day 2nd North East Zonal Convention of the AIR and DD Technical Employees Association got underway here today. PBBCI CEO KS Sharma was present on the occasion.