NORTH EAST SATELLITE CHANNEL TO
COVER HILLY POPULATION
The Minister of Information
& Broadcasting, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the
24-hours North East Satellite Channel was started on 27th
December, 2000 with a view to extend coverage to the population
in the hilly and difficult terrain of North Eastern Region of
India.
Replying to a question
by Dr. Arun Kumar Sarma in Rajya Sabha today, Shri Prasad said
that the required capital outlay of Rs. 321.35 crores, projected
for the period 2001-02 to 2004-05, will be spent in four phases.
A number of special programmes have been commissioned which include
programmes on development themes, cross border terrorism, militancy,
magazine programme on events achievement of North Eastern Region
and fiction serial on the award winning novel from NER.
The Minister further
said that the North East Channel is available outside North East
Region, through satellite. An amount of Rs. 142.10 crores has
been approved mainly for upgradation of programme service for
the 24-hours Satellite Channel for North East. The Channel has
already started functioning for 24-hours and telecasting programmes
in major dialects of North East, Shri Prasad added.
