Doordarshan transmitters to be shut in 3 districts

The Prasar Bharati board, last September, decided to phase out analogue terrestrial television transmitters in favour of a digital network, which can transmit multiple channels. Around 630 transmitting stations, including those at Vellore, Arcot and Pernambut in Vellore district and Arni and Wandiwash in Tiruvannamalai district, will be shut across the country, sources told DT Next. It has been learnt that the Kancheepuram VLPT will wind up transmission from February 12, while the Vellore LPT is expected to be closed within a month. The Vellore LPT was inaugurated by MGR in July 1984 on a site of the highways department of the state government. 

Unlike the unmanned Kancheepuram centre, the Vellore LPT has 10 staffers, who are in the dark over their redeployment to other places. However, what has irked DD employees is that the DD/AIR Engineering Employees Association and the DD/AIR Technical Employees association were both derecognised by the Central Government in December last, leaving them with no avenue to air their grievances, sources claimed. 

This situation has forced employees to approach Vellore Institute of Technology, Christian Medical College and even the Sripuram Golden Temple to forward their grievances to top Central Government officials. 

Plans are also afoot to collect and forward 1 lakh signatures to officials concerned on this issue. TN ministers, KC Veeramani (Commercial Taxes) and Nilofer Kabil (Labour), and top police and civil administration officials were given copies of the petition seeking help to retain at least LPTs, which are manned. But what bothers the DD staff is that their management has made no effort to be on a par with private channels. 

“While DD top brass say that the present move is to overcome lack of viewership for DD, we wonder what prevents them from matching private TV channels,” a staff member queried. Also, the emphasis on Hindi has resulted in DD Pothigai programme timing being curtailed to a mere 4 hours daily, which is the main reason for DD’s poor viewership, he added.