Special DD programmes for N-E soon: Sushma

By Our Special Correspondent

GUWAHATI, DEC. 28. A special package of programme for the Doordarshan for the North- Eastern region is being prepared and would be announced in two to three months, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms. Sushma Swaraj, said here today.

She said the package would be like the one prepared for telecasting in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ms. Swaraj, who inaugurated the 24-hour North-East satellite channel here on Wednesday, said the Doordarshan was now covering 53 per cent of the area and 81 per cent of the population in Assam. Soon the coverage would be made cent per cent.

She said the 24-hour channel would continue to telecast the old programme for three months, till March next year. The new programme would start from April.

Programmes based on local folk culture would be prepared by local studios at Tura, Dibrugarh and Silchar in addition to the ones already functioning at the State capitals. A local studio was also coming up in Sikkim, she said.

She said Direct-To-Home television which was costly, would be used for community coverage in rural areas where there was no cable service. It would also reduce cost because a small dish would be able to cover an entire village community.

Ms. Swaraj said her Ministry had the responsibility of removing the ``feeling of alienation'' among the people of this region and the new 24-hour channel would be particularly helpful for people in the border areas who were now exposed more to TV programmes of China, Myanmar and Bangladesh than our own.

`Accord successful'

UNI reports:

Ms. Swaraj today rated the Mizoram accord, signed between Mizo rebels and the Centre, as the most successful pact initiated so far with any rebel outfit. The Union Minister told presspersons that a former rebel and present Mizoram Chief Minister, Mr. Zoramthanga, should be the role model for any insurgent group in the region.

She said, ``Mr. Zoramthanga has been running his Government in a most credible way and should inspire other rebel leaders in the region to come forward for negotiation with the Government to find solution to their problems.''

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