Itanagar: Doordarshan Director General Tripurari Sharan has committed to redress the problems being faced by the local Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) of Itanagar including its low coverage and shortage of manpower.
While addressing a gathering at the Nyokum Yullow festival at Doimukh, about 25 km from here on Sunday, the DG felt that a state like Arunachal with its rich cultural heritage and diversity needs more attention from the national channel, official sources said here on Sunday.
‘I have been apprised of several problems facing DDK Itanagar. I assure that all these will be addressed sooner than later,’ he declared while accepting that the station needs to upgrade its services.
Sharan informed that the newly-appointed CEO of Prasar Bharti was aware of the major problem of manpower shortage in DDKs of the North East. He said the issue would be resolved within this year.
‘I assure before the chief minister today that manpower shortage will be resolved. And not only that, we will ensure that more local people are recruited so that they can work here as at times people from the mainland are reluctant to come to the North East owing to reasons best known to them,’ he said.
The DG also expressed concern that most of the Low Power Transmitters (LPT) have gone defunct due to lack of professionals to man them.
Pointing that LPTs are the only link with the outside world in remote and border areas, he assured to get all these functional very soon.
Sharan admitted that while in rest of India the set-up of Doordarshan broadcast was D9, in the North East it still follows a lower set-up.
Speaking about the plan to upgrade to HD technology, a set-up higher than D9, he assured that DDKs in Arunachal and rest of the North Eastern states would be straightaway upgraded to HD technology without going through the intermediary stages.
On a request to acquire an outdoor broadcasting (OB) van for live telecast of programmes and events, he said Doordarshan would bring up the proposal for the North Eastern states in the 12th Five Year Plan.
Meanwhile, he said DSNG vans, which cost less than OB vans, can be acquired for limited live telecasts.
Getting a first-hand experience of Nyokum celebrations, the DG, accompanied by his deputy BN Bakshi and a team from New Delhi, expressed desire to send a full-fledged team to record and cover the festivity in total for archival as well as coverage use, sources added. (UNI)