Sushma gifts relay centre with DD studio

quot;I know the City has plenty of talent and the programmes produced by its studios will find place even on the national hook-up,quot; said the Minister, who studied Law at Punjab University and got married in the City. She recalled with nostalgia her Chandigarh connection: quot;I8217;m the bahu and beti of this City. Therefore, it8217;s not just another stone-laying function. I felt as if I was amongst my family members, celebrating a festival.quot;

She said the Broadcasting Bill to be introduced in the next session of Parliament will have two provisions to check vulgarity. It will be mandatory for all foreign channels to get uplinking from here. quot;Thus, all channels will be bound by the advertising code of this country. This will empower us to sue them in our courts and cancel their licences in case they beam offensive and vulgar stuff.quot; quot;The second provision will be of a broadcasting council on the lines of the Press Council of India. The citizens will have the right to complain against any producer or channel,quot; she said.

Hitting out at the satellite channels for showing quot;squalidquot; stuff and trying to pervert the Indian culture, she made it clear that Doordarshan will not dole out obscenity. quot;Children are being fed on the bold-and-beautiful8217; kind of programmes and they then indulge in arguments with their parents. The culture war is on. We8217;ll fight this-is-my-life culture through DD,quot; she added. Later, addressing a gathering at Tagore theatre, local MP Satya Pal Jain said the quot;shilanayasquot; of the studio was done in 1989 and neither any MP nor any government took pains to start construction.

Sushma Swaraj also sat through a cultural programme at the theatre, which was made to suit just the kind of culture she propagates.

Later, addressing a meeting of officials of the Department of Telecom and Posts, Sushma Swaraj said the benefits of revolution in telecom services should not be restricted to metro cities only. She added that telephone services, particularly in the rural areas of Punjab and Haryana, needed improvement.

She added the employees who are in direct contact with the public should show courtesy in public dealing so that the common man realised some improvement in the system with the change of government.

Local MP Satya Pal Jain suggested that the department should make such plans so that telephones connections are made available in Chandigarh on demand by January 31, 1999.

He also requested the department to consider the calls for Dera Bassi and nearby areas as local calls. quot;Most of the people from Chandigarh have set up their industries over there,quot; he said.