STATE TIMES NEWS
Udhampur: The work on first-ever FM radio station in Udhampur district has begun, as Union Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh laid its foundation stone on Sunday here.
Singh who is also the local MP from the area, laid foundation of the project which will cost around Rs 10 crore.
The proposed radio station at Udhampur will have a 10 kW FM transmitter, a studio and 100 meter tower.
Rs 9.24 crore has been approved as the cost of civil works and equipment. This radio station would cover the adjoining five districts.
“Radio station was a long pending demand of the people, that Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled,” Singh told people at the function.
“Unfortunately the people of Udhampur had to wait for 50 years for the Modi government to take over and respond to this demand,” he said.
Singh said, “it is the time of FM Radio and the station would cater to the communication needs of the local people”.
He said that Information and Broadcasting and communication sectors have always remained the priority of Narendra Modi government and recently the sectors have received significant thrust.
He added that the radio station has been sanctioned for the area under the Prime Minister’s special package.
He said that government in the Centre has been giving special attention towards the issues of the people of Jammu and Kashmir particularly those living in far-flung and remote areas. A formal communication was issued to this effect by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which also wrote a letter to Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati, New Delhi to carry forward the plan.
The announcement comes close on the heels of the approval of Rs 170.50 crore by the Central government for the cleaning of river Devika under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) in Udhampur district.
“Under this special plan rolled out by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, only three radio stations have been approved across the country for construction through the current order, and Udhampur is one of them.
The other two stations are to be set up at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh”, he said.
The Minister said the demand for the radio station was raised soon after the 1965 war and that one of the reasons cited was that radio signals from Radio Pakistan tended to be dominating.
Later, Dr Singh also inaugurated the Post Office Passport Seva Kendra which was organised by the collaborative efforts of Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Post at the Head Post Office Udhampur.
The Union Minister said that after Jammu and Srinagar, Udhampur is the first district to get such facility. He said the passport service centre (Passport Seva Kendra) would facilitate the passport service delivery and would cater to the needs of the applicants of Udhampur, Reasi and Ramban districts.
