Ranchi, May 16: Union information and broadcasting minister M. Venkaiah Naidu today announced a dedicated 24/7 Doordarshan channel exclusively for Jharkhand and sanctioned over Rs 270 crore for various civic projects in the state.
Since DD Jharkhand, he said, would take a few months to go on the air, DD Bihar would be airing programmes on Jharkhand at fixed time slots every day.
"I held meetings with officials of DD and All India Radio (AIR) here today, along with the chief minister, who has promised all support for setting up the full-fledged Jharkhand channel," Naidu told the media at Project Building in the presence of chief secretary Rajbala Verma, her predecessor Rajeev Gauba, who is now Union urban development secretary, and CM Raghubar Das.
DD Jharkhand, it is understood, will take some time to set up with Doordarshan and AIR officials having to ready studio and office infrastructure.
"Till then, programmes and news will be relayed through DD Bihar every day between 3pm and 4pm. Jharkhand would also get two 15-minute news bulletin slots at noon and 7.15pm," the Union minister, who also handles urban development, said.
Chief minister Das said it would take seven to eight months for the logistics to be in place for the new channel to start.
"We will extend all support to the venture. Also, there was a request for a dedicated power feeder for DD and AIR to ensure uninterrupted relay of programmes. We will make provisions for this, too," he said.
Naidu, who came to Ranchi last evening, also sanctioned Rs 278.36 crore for various schemes in Jharkhand, including smart city, AMRUT, Deendayal Upadhyay and PM Awas Yojana, He also handed out open-defecation free certificates to official representatives of Chas, Mango, and nagar parishads of Gumla, Bundu, Khunti and Lohardaga.
This apart, he released booklets on several policies, including septage management, waste water recycling and reuse, advertisement regulations for urban local bodies, rainwater harvesting regulations, and a coffee table book on Swachh Bharat Mission prepared by the state government.
Naidu said his Ranchi visit was in adherence to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directive to ministers to go to states and tackle pending issues instead of having chief ministers come over to Delhi. "This is a new trend in the country. I have already toured South India and in a couple of days, I am going to Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan," he said.
Of the funds given today, Rs 96 crore was for the smart city project, taking the Centre's contribution to the state to Rs 188 crore. "Work will be fast-tracked now. A special purpose vehicle for this project is already set up and the state government has hired manpower. I am told tendering processes for various works are underway," Naidu said.
Das promised to lay the foundation of the smart city project, a Greenfield initiative coming up on 646 acres in the HEC area, within six months.
The Union minister said he was more or less happy about the progress of various projects in Jharkhand.
"I have suggested to the government that it should send advance plans for the remaining three financial years before the 2019 elections so that clearances can be sought well in time. Also, efforts should be made to improve the city bus service under PPP mode and set up a single-window system for all infrastructure clearances under the Centre's model building bylaws for cities," Naidu said.
