Plea to upgrade AIR Pauri

The Man Ki Baat started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over All India Radio has become immensely popular with a cross-section of the people across India. This has also endeared radio which was almost tucked into oblivion with the audio-visual media ruling supreme. However, there are many places where Akashvani remains out of bounds for the people because of the limitation of the radio transmission network. Those who are unable to avail of the service say the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should take steps to increase the capacity of the AIR centres located in the remote areas of the country, so that maximum number of people living on the remote areas could be benefited.

Pauri is the regional and district headquarters in Garhwal Division of Uttarakhand. The longstanding demand for increasing transmission power of the Pauri station of All India Radio notwithstanding, no step has been taken by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to fulfil it. This is why the residents of many towns and villages in Pauri district are unable to receive the AIR transmission.  

At present, the transmission from AIR Pauri can be heard only within the aerial distance of 20 km from the station. Thus, AIR Pauri is able to maintain its formal existence, but its desired purpose remains far from achieved. The AIR Pauri station in Garhwal region of Uttarakhand was inaugurated in 1996 by then Union Minister Satpal Maharaj who is now a senior BJP leader. The capacity of this station is only 1 kilowatt and technically, the transmission of this station can be heard within a range of 20 km from the centre. 

The residents of the various villages and towns in the district, including lansdowne, and those from the adjoining Tehri district are unable to receive transmission from this centre.  The radio station has been facing problems due to its limited range, limited transmission frequency and staff shortage.

The general public opinion is that though the radio station is functioning well given its resource crunch, the programmes remain elusive for the remote areas of the district for which it was established. The public demand is that the transmission capacity of this radio station should be increased to 25 kilowatts to help radio.