Additional radio stations to be set up in tribal areas
	18:56 IST

Lok Sabha The Government proposes to set up All India Radio (AIR) centers particularly in the tribal districts. During the Tenth Five Year Plan period, three radio stations viz. (i) Himatnagar (Gujarat), (ii) Saraipalli (Chattisgarh), and (iii) Mandla (Madhya Pradesh), have been commissioned in tribal areas. Two more radio stations in the tribal districts of Soro (Orissa) and Dharamapuri (Tamil Nadu) are technically ready; but have not been commissioned due to non-sanction of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) staff. One radio station in the tribal district of Churachandpur in Manipur is also technically ready, but could not be commissioned as a decision about link language is yet to be taken by the State Government. Besides, another forty-one Radio Stations spread-over in the tribal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh , Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have been proposed during the 10th Plan. While planning setting up of radio stations, AIR is motivated by (i) coverage analysis (including feed-back reports); (ii) population density; (iii) people's representation; and (iv) availability of resources. This information was given by Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, Sh. P.R. Dasmunsi in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. RS/GK