GUWAHATI, July 13 � The ministers/representatives of the northeastern states on Tuesday urged the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni for upgrading the infrastructure of DDK and AIR units in the region so that transmission facility of these mediums of communication is enhanced.
At a regional conference of media units held here at the Administrative Staff College and attended by Soni, ministers and representatives of the North East States pointed out that as most of the States in the region share borders with Bangladesh, it was of utmost importance to enhance the transmission of DDK and AIR so as to cover the areas on the border.
One of the participants Tripura said that people in the State dwelling in the border areas watched Bangladesh programmes as these areas were not covered by the DDK. The State also lamented the poor AIR coverage and called for extending the AIR coverage to more areas, particularly those in remote places.
Pressing for modernisation of the official electronic mediums in keeping with the needs of the times, the North East representatives said that satellite uplinking, meeting the manpower requirement and increasing the slot for local programmes would fulfil the local aspiration as well as project the region in a positive way before the nation.
Assam observed that there was need for a provision to restrain the local privately run electronic and print media from highlighting the gory and the macabre.
Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram stressed increasing the duration of the programmes in local dialects, popularising community radio, appointment of regular staff, besides insisting on improvement of outstation uplinking facility.
Some of the States asked for setting up a Press Information Bureau (PIB) office or upgrading the existing PIB setup.
Soni assured the representatives that the UPA government was sensitive to the requirements of the region and would address the issues raised by the region.
The conference was also attended by Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting, CM Jatua who in his address said the Government of India was committed to providing quality information to the people of North East. He said that as the communication needs of the region are unique these have to be addressed in a focused manner.
