Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 2
The Centre has set the ball rolling for winding up three of its four towers in Punjab. Transmitters on these towers have been relaying terrestrial transmission to TV sets through the old-fashioned roof-top antennae. Satellite channels have drastically reduced the use of terrestrial transmission.
Erected at Bathinda, Fazilka, Jalandhar and Amritsar, they cover the entire state. Barring Jalandhar’s tower, sources in the Prasar Bharti said the rest of the three would cease to operate in the coming months. The country’s third oldest tower in Amritsar, which has been in operation since 1973, will cease to operate on December 31, Bathinda’s tower by the fag end of October and Fazilka’s by March 2022.
The border district’s 100-metre high tower at Basarke Gillan village has two high-powered transmitters of 20 kilowatts each relaying Doordarshan Punjab and Doordarshan National, on VHF channel seven and UHF channel 29. Signals of these transmitters are picked up by using roof-top antennae in the neighbouring area of Pakistan too. In addition, the tower is also being used by four private companies running FM programmes.
Hardeep Singh Chahal, a local, said, “On the line of Jalandhar’s tower, the local tower must be kept intact as its programmes are watched in and around Lahore. So they perfectly work to disseminate the Indian viewpoints directly to the people of Pakistan. This anticipated closure of Doordarshan transmitters is an unfortunate development.”
Centre to stop ops of 3 terrestrial towers in state
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