Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 25: Senior Congress leader and former Minister Gulchain Singh Charak today demanded a separate and independent ‘Duggar Channel’ on the pattern of ‘DD Kashir Channel’.
Mr Charak led a delegation of the Doordarshan approved Drama Artists Association, Jammu to meet the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari here today.
The delegation maintained that there was discrimination with the people living in the Jammu region as most of the funds were diverted to DD Kashir Channel.
The delegation asserted that Jammu region, also known as Dogri region, has multiple languages, which were variations of the Dogri language like Gojri, Bhadarwahi, Kishtwari, Punjabi, Mirpuri, Poonchi and Muzaffarabadi. The Kashir Channel was set up with a mandate to send a message to different sections of people and setting up a Duggar Channel will serve that purpose better.
It said, the Duggar Channel will cover the area of entire Jammu province of 32,200 square kilometers as compared to 22,200 square kilometers covered by Kashir Channel.
Asserting that it will not require much extra infrastructure, the delegation said, the Prasar Bharti has to only issue the orders as the infrastructure was already available with the Doordarshan Kendera, Jammu.
Mr Charak also raised the issue of the casual appointees in the Doordarshan who were appointed at a time when people were not prepared to work with the DD because of militants’ threats. He said, they are working on the same rumenration for last 20 years and they must be at least given the status of the temporary employees. He also sought promotions avenues for the announcers.