Assam: Sonowal asks broadcast ministry to retain AIR & DD Dibrugarh’s status

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has written to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar raising the issue of Prasar Bharati’s directives for reassigning All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) in Dibrugarh as relay centres only, curtailing their capacity to produce own programmes, while they only broadcast/telecast AIR and DDK Guwahati’s programmes.

The CM urged the Union minister to retain the present status of both AIR and DDK Dibrugarh as these 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 centres, DDK, functioning as a full-fledged station since 1993 and AIR, which completed 50 years in 2019, should not be relegated to the status of relay centres as Guwahati centres of AIR and DDK would be overburdened to appropriately mirror the rich cultural nuances of this part of the country, he wrote, said a release.

He also touched upon the concerns caused by the transfer of artistes and employees from DD Dibrugarh to the outside Northeast region without replacements and underlined the resentment caused among citizens of the state about the possible loss of employment opportunities for local artists 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 own locally produced programmes, Sonowal wrote in his letter to Javadekar.