GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has requested Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar to retain the current status of the Dibrugarh centres of All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan Kendra (DDK).
The move comes in the wake of Prasar Bharati’s directive to reassign the AIR and DDK centres in Dibrugarh as relay centres only, curtailing their capacity to produce own programmes while only broadcasting/telecasting AIR and DDK, Guwahati’s programmes.
It may be noted that AIR Dibrugarh completed 50 years last year while Dibrugarh DDK has been functioning as a full-fledged station since 1993.
Sonowal stated that both the centres 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 centres should not be relegated to the status of relay centres as the Guwahati centres of AIR and DDK would be overburdened to appropriately mirror the rich cultural nuances of this part of country,” he wrote.
The chief minister also touched upon the concerns caused by the transfer of artistes and employees from DDK Dibrugarh to outside Northeast without replacements.
He further underlined the resentment caused among the leading citizens of the state about the possible loss of employment opportunities for local artistes in both the centres.
“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 their own locally produced programmes,” Sonowal wrote in his letter to the Union minister.