CHANDIGARH: To counter the neighbouring Pakistan's radio penetration in the border areas of Punjab and to reach out to Punjabis in Lahore, Sialkot, and Gujranwala in Pakistan, India launched an FM radio station on Monday.
A 20KW FM transmitter of the All India Radio (AIR) located at Gharinda close to the international border near Amritsar was formally inaugurated by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla, an AIR statement said.
In the initial phase, the transmitter shall carry an assortment of programmes broadcast in Punjabi by FM Rainbow Channel of AIR Jalandhar, 'Des Punjab', and programmes in Saraiki language for 18 hours per day from 6 am to 12 midnight. Popular programmes of Urdu service of the External Services Division, AIR, will also be broadcast.
The move is supposedly India’s answer to the ‘Punjab Darbar’ — a show operated by Radio Pakistan — being aired in India and Pakistan for the past three decades.
This transmitter, due to its strategic location, would provide for countering of any misleading anti-India propaganda and put India's point of view in the correct perspective, the statement said.
The transmitter will cover about 80 km radius and programmes will be relayed in Lahore, Sialkot and Gujranwala in Pakistan.
According to sources, a total of 88 transmitters are proposed to be installed at strategic locations in regions bordering Pakistan, including a 10KW FM station in Green Ridge (Uri sector), Himbotinga (Kargil), Patnitop, Udhampur, Naushera, and replacement in Srinagar, Jammu, Bhadarwah (6 KW) and Chauntan Hill (20KW) in Rajasthan.