NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of the approval of Rs. 170.50 crore by Government of India for the cleaning of river Devika under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), another heartening news for the people of Udhampur is the approval of Rs. 9.24 crore for construction and equipment of the city’s first-ever Radio Station, with the cost of land not included in this amount.
Disclosing this here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh said that, following a constant follow-up of the last one-and-a-half year, finally today, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a formal communication to this effect and wrote an official letter to Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati, New Delhi to carry forward the plan.
Giving further details, Singh informed that the proposed Radio station at Udhampur will have a 10 kW FM Transmitter, a Studio and 100 meter tower. While Rs. 9.24 crore has been approved as the cost of civil works and equipment, he said, this will not include the cost of land, which has already been identified in the city premises of Udhampur. It is a matter of pride and great achievement for the State of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh said that under this special plan rolled out by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, only three radio stations across the country have been approved for construction through the current order, and Udhampur is one of them, while the other two radio stations are to be set up at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. A team from Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will shortly visit Udhampur to initiate the process of land acquisition and thereafter the construction task will begin, he informed.
Expressing gratitude to the Government of India for the order of sanction issued today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the demand for radio station at Udhampur was raised soon after the 1965 war and one of the reasons cited was that radio signals from Radio Pakistan tended to be dominating. However, he said, the people of Udhampur had to wait for 50 years for the Modi government to take over and respond to this demand.
Meanwhile, in another exclusive initiative, Singh launched Swachhta Pakhwadha by the Ministry of DoNER with the administration of pledge of cleanliness to the employees of the ministry. He said, Northeast is known for its higher standards of cleanliness and while Sikkim was the first State of India to be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF), a tiny village in Meghalaya has been for several years consecutively adjudged as the ‘Cleanest Village in Asia’.