The Urdu service of All India Radio (External Services Division), which has been extremely popular among listeners of western India, Pakistan and West Asia, stands discontinued due to technical reasons, since April 2004.
The service is considered by many as an effective tool to counter the adverse political propaganda aired by Pakistan.
Says AIR secretary Rakesh Panara, ‘‘the service stands discontinued since April 2004, when the second part of its super-power transmitter malfunctioned and could not be restored despite several attempts by the engineers. The first transmitter had stopped functioning several years ago.
Pinara says that RF-3 stage valve, a critical component of this super-power transmitter at Rajkot, went out of order and as on date, no company manufactures it, not even the Government owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL).
The superpower transmitter at Rajkot is of 1 mega watt capacity is one of three such in the country, the other two being at Aligarh and Nagpur.
While the 1 MW transmitters at Aligarh and Nagpur have been modernised and upgraded to solid state digital technology, the one at Rajkot (Padadhari) remained obsolete and ultimately malfunctioned in April 2004, but not before performing more than 15 years beyond its life span, points Panara.
Prasar Bharati Corporation has requisitioned for a new digital transmitter for Rajkot, which would cost an estimate Rs 42 crore. The funds constraint remain a major handicap, especially after it initiated austerity measures announced by the Finance Ministry.
Panara says that the prohibitive maintenance costs of the present setup and poor revenue generation may force closure of Rajkot super-power transmitter, even as the Ministry of External Affairs is not favour of doing so because of its strategic importance. Even the Home Ministry also wants the service to resume as it provides fitting reply to vicious anti-India propaganda across the border, he said.
The technical association is also keen on restoration of jobs to staff that have been scattered here or there due to closure of the old transmitter, as soon as the new transmitter arrives.
Station engineer AIR Rajkot K A Raval said the wiring of the transmitter had rotted and its valve also malfunctioned. ‘‘BEL does not manufacture such valves any more, but there is some hope as we are asked to keep the transmitter area clean, as consignments are expected to arrive in the near future,’’ he said.