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Concerned over Doordarshan's poor reach in some border areas, the Union government has embarked upon a plan to improve transmission facilities in the northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Briefing reporters in New Delhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said some hostile neighbours are taking advantage of the situation by beaming anti-India programmes into these areas.
"The demand to increase the DD coverage in these areas was a long-standing one. Now the demand has been met," she said.
She said 18 new high-power transmission towers and 25 low-power transmission towers would be added to the existing facilities in the northeast.
"The northeastern states would also have 16 new FM stations. We have realised that FM stations are very relevant in such areas where every 20 km the dialect changes," Swaraj said.
"We are also introducing a new feature in the region. We have selected 160 villages where we will provide cables, cable head-ends and cable operating systems to village panchayats. This is a new experiment...we want to see if cable connections work out cheaper than providing terrestrial transmission," the minister said.
Swaraj said a Rs 4300-million package for J&K has been formulated which would increase the state's DD and AIR coverage. She said that government will spend Rs 3400 million to build infrastructure and Rs 900 million to produce and buy software.
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