Doordarshan to get its North-East act together

In line with the United Front government's policy to focus special attention on the North-East, Doordarshan is going in for a major revamp in its programmes for that region.

As a first step, Doordarshan plans to increase the penetration of its terrestrial distributed North-East Regional Service. The NERS -- focusing on culture, dances, lifestyle and festivals -- has already proved a hit with the rural audiences who cannot afford cable connections.

DD's news and current affairs programmes, too, will be revamped. The Guwahati station has already started a daily English news bulletin which is being relayed by all other stations in the North-East.

Insurgency has greatly affected DD's services in the North-East. Production at local Doordarshan centres were hit severely due to a shortage of equipment and manpower. Many posts, including that of programme executives, station directors, technical programme officers and cameramen, have remained vacant for a long time now.

'In the absence of state of the art equipment, quality programming is not possible. We do not even have enough cameramen!" laments Doordarshan Deputy Director General (NE) P K Singson.

The Union Public Service Commission had, two year ago, advertised for cameramen. However, the appointments are yet to be made. For now, the information and broadcasting ministry has allowed DD stations to recruit local cameramen from Guwahati.