Motihari, Dec. 19: A large part of revenue earned by Nepali FM channels through advertisements is spent towards anti-India broadca- sts that are fake and conco- cted and misleading, an administrative report has said.

What is ironical is that advertisements by traders and industrialists belonging to Indian markets form the lion’s share of revenue for the channels, but it is spent otherwise.

Sanjeev Jaiswal, a resident of the bordering Ghorasahan block, said rumours like “India has encroached upon a certain area of Nepal in a particular region; the involvement of Indian criminals found in an incident reported from a certain part of that (Nepal) country” are among the fake and concocted news reports often broadcast on FM radio stations functioning from bordering Nepali towns.

There are nearly a dozen FM towers situated on either side of the border, which generate business in form of bulk advertisements from Indian companies every month, but instead of promoting friendly feelings towards India broadcast anti-India advertisements and play vulgar songs from 5.45am till 12.45pm.

These Nepali FM channels have managed to grab advertisements from most Calcutta-based hosiery goods companies and also mislead the unsuspecting rural lot by frequent advertisements of practising quacks.

Last July, district magistrate Narmadeshwar Lal received a letter from the deputy director of the planning and development department of Prasar Bharti, Jitendra Arora, ordering the installation of an FM tower at Motihari.

Lal said that the proposal for a 100KV FM transformer has already been sanctioned for which the work was in progress. The letter also refers to the vulgar songs broadcast on the Nepal-based FM channels.

Birganj FM, Narayani FM, Garhi Mai FM, Indrani FM, Bhojpuriya FM, Akash FM, FM Radio Tarang and Musical FM were prominent among the nine FM channels operating from Birganj, the bordering town in Nepal.

On the other hand, Sanskar FM, Raj Devi FM, Rothat Album, Janki FM, Janakpur Today, Radio Today, Mithila FM, FM Jaleshwar Asthan, Mai FM and Madhesh FM were among prominent channels functioning from Kalaya under Bara district, Gaur under Rauthat and Malangwa under Sarlahi districts in Nepal.

The popularity of these FM channels is steadily increasing among people living in bordering areas of Champaran besides Sheohar, Sitamarhi and Darbhanga districts.

The government procedure to launch an FM channel in Nepal is comparatively easier than it is in India because of which the licence to start FM channels often fall in wrong hands.