CM urges Centre to upgrade DD kendra

SHIMLA, Jan 4: The Himachal Pradesh government today urged the Centre to upgrade the Shimla Doordarshan Kendra, so that original programm...

SHIMLA, Jan 4: The Himachal Pradesh government today urged the Centre to upgrade the Shimla Doordarshan Kendra, so that original programmes could be produced locally and people in far-flung areas of the state could view Doordarshan.

Disclosing this here, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that he held a meeting with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan and apprised him of the prevailing situation. He said he told the Union minister that the kendra had started functioning in 1995 with a telecast programme of half an hour daily for five days a week. The Chief Minister expressed his concern to the minister that even after four years, the telecast duration remained the same.

The Union Minister was told that far-flung areas in the state remained cut off from the rest of the world due to snowfall in winter and only DD was the sole source to keep in touch with them. The Chief Minister, therefore, sought the strengthening of the existing DD kendra.

Dhumal, who met Mahajan in Bangalore, said it was expected that this DD kendra would bring a cultural and communication revolution in the state by presenting socio-economic activities in the right perspective, but due to lack of adequate staff, the services of this kendra could not be utilised by the people of the state.

The Chief Minister urged that inadequacies prevailing in the centre should be dealt with severely. He also urged Union Communications Minister Jagmohan for opening a Centre for Development of Telematics in the state, which would provide a boost to communication technology in the state, especially in Chamba district.

He briefed the minister that far-flung areas in the state needed more telecommunication and postal facilities and added that the Centre should provide special attention to Himachal in this respect.

The Chief Minister, in a separate meeting with Union Minister of State for Agriculture Sompal, urged him to provide support price to apples and citrus fruit growers in the state to strengthen their economic condition.