NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is yet to clear a proposal for separate 24-hour Doordarshan (DD) channels for each state in the Northeast.

Confirming this to Indiantelevision.com, a Prasar Bharati source said that the proposal, which has been gathering dust in the MIB for a fairly long time, had been sent to ensure greater coverage of the seven states in the Northeast.

Although DD has a 24x7 Northeast channel at present, it covers all the states with the result that not enough time is available to the programming of each state.

Although Prasar Bharati had initially proposed three more channels for the Northeast around two years ago, this had been revised to one channel per state late last year.

It was proposed that since DD had infrastructure worth several hundred crores in each of the states, it would require around Rs 6 - 10 crore for initiating the production of software of these channels. However, it would then require regular funding to keep the channels running.

While a letter had also been sent recently by Prasar Bharati to the Ministry in this regard, the issue is also expected to come up in the meeting of the Board on 7 September.

This will ensure that the programming of each state gets greater coverage and there is greater understanding in the rest of the country about the art and culture of these states. 

The source said efforts would be made through the Prasar Bharati Board to push the proposal so that these channels are cleared at the earliest, particularly since the Government is very keen to ensure that the northeast is very much a part of the mainstream.