Move to downgrade Prasar Bharati stations draws TNCCI criticism

The AIR, officially known as ‘Akashwani’ since 1957 has been operating its services through about 420 radio stations in various parts of India to reach the maximum number of people, N Jegatheesan, president, TNCCI said on Tuesday.

Despite this, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has announced that the radio stations in Madurai, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and in Puducherry would be completely closed and would function only as relay stations in the near future and the programmes would now be broadcast only from Chennai. Such a decision would certainly affect radio listeners especially those in rural areas, he said.

D Dhanushkodi, vice president of the Chamber said the primary radio stations functioning in Tamil Nadu had the autonomy to host all events, including education, agriculture, especially Meenakshi Thirukalyanam in Madurai, Kallaazhagar landing event in the Vaigai river, ‘Madurai Theppam’ festival, Jallikattu, useful news for students of schools and colleges, quiz programme to encourage students, poetry and literary competitions and important announcements were periodically broadcast to the benefit of general public. All these programmes were popularly listened to as such ones were compiled and broadcast in the local style, flavor and regional dialect. These four stations in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry could lose its charm if they had only option of relaying programmes organised by the Chennai AIR, he said.