Jan 31, 2017: Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar today held the Central Government responsible for ever decreasing popularity of All India Radio and Doordarshan compared to private channels. Speaking at valedictory programme of Golden Jubilee celebration of AIR Agartala, CM said AIR has a significant role to play in providing a platform to find out hidden talents of this region, he stated. However, AIR and DD have failed to do this, he lamented and suggested AIR is lagging behind because of poor vision and policies of the Central Government.
On Central Government’s role, Manik Sarkar further said, AIR and DD are running under control of an autonomous body – Prasar Bharati. However, Central Government is poking its nose on functioning of Prasar Bharati and thus the functioning once popular AIR is getting affected. Central Government should allow the Prasar Bharati to plan and improve its functioning and cater needs of people matching with the demand, he stated and added, functioning of AIR and DD should demand driven, not to decided by few people or Government policies.
He also suggested steps necessary for improving performance of AIR, particularly in Tripura and other North Eastern States. To this end, he said Government should focus on improving infrastructure of AIR and strengthen its manpower. He also said, Agartala AIR Station is running without a Station Director for long time and even today nobody knows if the Station has any director level officer deputed to monitor the AIR, Agartala. He also suggested improving the infrastructure of AIR for better reach and transmission. Manik Sarkar, however, assured State Government’s co-operation in every possible manner for the betterment of AIR services.
ADG of Prasar Bharati, Eastern and North Eastern Region DN Basumatri was also present in the valedictory programme. He thanked the State Government for extending support in conducting the Golden Jubilee programme of AIR, Agartala.
