KKCCI urges Centre to revive Doordarshan Station in Kalaburagi

Accusing the Central government of neglecting the Doordarshan Centre at Kalaburagi, the first television station to be established in the State in 1977, the Kalyana Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KKCCI) has urged the former to take immediate steps for its revival by filling vacant posts and facilitating modern equipment.

KKCCI president Sharanabasappa Pappa, addressing presspersons here on Sunday, said that the Doordarshan Centre has been facing staff crunch for the last one decade with merely 10 members working against the sanctioned 109 posts, impacting its operations and programming.

At present, all the 31 sanctioned posts in the programme section are lying vacant, while in the engineering section, only four staff members are working against the sanctioned 42 posts. And, in the administration section, only six staff members are working against the sanctioned 36 posts.

Thus, due to the shortage of staff across various departments, including administration, technical and production, the Doordarshan Centre is finding it difficult to produce regular programmes and maintain its services effectively, he said.

Senior Doordarshan officials from Delhi visited the Kalaburagi station in April 2022 and clarified that there is no proposal to close down the centre but it will be converted from analog territorial transmitter (TT) to digital transmitter. But practically, the situation indicates that an attempt is being made to cease operations permanently, he said.

The centre has provided opportunities for local artists and contributed educational programmes based on literacy, health, agriculture, art and culture for decades, Mr. Pappa said.

He said that the KKCCI will take a delegation to Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw by next month and urge him to take immediate steps to revamp the centre.