GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has written to Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, urging him to retain the present status of All India Radio and Doordarshan Kendra in Dibrugarh, and not reassigning them only as relay centres.
Sonowal raised the issue of Prasar Bharati’s directives for reassigning them as just relay centres, curtailing their capacity to produce own programmes, to broadcast/telecast AIR and DDK, Guwahati’s programmes, an official release said on Friday.
He called upon Javadekar to retain the present status of both AIR and DD Dibrugarh centres as they have been instrumental in reflecting the cultural mosaic and indigenous traditions of communities in Upper Assam and even eastern districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
“Both the Dibrugarh centres of DDK, functioning as a full-fledged station since 1993, and AIR Dibrugarh, which completed 50 years in 2019, should not be relegated to the status of relay centres, as Guwahati centres of AIR and DDK would be overburdened to appropriately mirror the rich cultural nuances of this part of the country,” Sonowal said in the letter.
The chief minister also touched upon the concerns caused by transfer of artistes and employees from DD Dibrugarh to outside the northeastern region without replacements, the release said.
“For preserving and sustaining the language, culture and heritage of the state, the present status of AIR and DDK, Dibrugarh should be retained and they should be allowed to transmit own locally-produced programmes,” Sonowal added. (PTI )
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