Air news in regional languages too, demand residents

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 17

To get news updates in vernacular languages, city residents have demand that the bulletins should be aired in Punjabi, Hindi, English, Dogri and Urdu languages from All India Radio Amritsar 103.6 FM.

Harjap Singh Aujla, a city resident, said the soon to be commissioned FM channel is anticipated to be an information-cum-entertainment radio station. It is supposed to cover important cities of Pakistan, including Lahore. It must carry all the news bulletins in Punjabi, the national bulletins aired from New Delhi and the regional Punjabi bulletins originated from All India Radio Chandigarh, he underscored.

Supporting his view, Prof (retd) Mohan Singh, president, Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), in a communiqué to Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati stated that Lahore has a sizable Urdu-speaking Muhajir Punjabi population, which speaks Urdu. For them every national bulletin originated from New Delhi must be in Urdu.

“There is a sizable of Punjabi speaking (Dogri dialect) population in Lahore and in neighbouring Pathankot. They want to hear the news in their local language,” mentioned Vempati in the communiqué.

Another citizen Balram Kumar Sharma said, “The city recieves an average of over 75,000 tourists from all across the country daily and want news in Hindi. The city welcomes around 20,000 tourists daily from southern and north-eastern parts of the country, they understand English news bulletins only. Hearing news in the language they understand will help them in knowing what is happening around the globe better.

“Also, the next generation of Non-Resident Indian (NRIs) of Punjabi origin in once twin cities of Amritsar and Lahore also prefer English news. All car radios in Amritsar and Lahore have FM radios. All these bulletins are likely to overlap, therefore we need at least two transmitters. They felt that the proposed FM radio channel could be a hit by catering to a broad based population,” he said.