Guwahati, Jan. 3: Doordarshan will telecast 15-minute news bulletins in regional languages at its centres in state capitals of all northeastern states and Sikkim by March this year.

The year 2003 will also be observed as the “year of the Northeast” to showcase the region in national and international fora by Doordarshan.

Announcing a special package for the Northeast at a news conference here today, Doordarshan director-general S.Y. Quraishi said the proposed bulletins will be in the official language of each state.

He said these bulletins would help Doordarshan widen its coverage of the Northeast in the national channel, he said.

Quraishi was here along with Prasar Bharati chief executive officer K. Sharma.

The Doordarshan chief said a Rs 327-crore special package for the Northeast was currently under the active consideration of the Centre.

He also announced that a Northeast music festival would be organised in all the state capitals of the region in February and March, which would receive wide coverage from Doordarshan.

As part of this festival, music competitions would be organised by the concerned Doordarshan centres in collaboration with the Nehru Yuva Kendra.

The two best participants from each state would take part in a Northeast music festival at New Delhi, he added.

Reacting to allegations of corruption in allotment of commissioned programmes and the poor quality of programmes in the region, Quraishi said the chief vigilance officer of Doordarshan would shortly undertake a visit to probe the allegations.

Sharma, who holds additional charge as AIR director-general, announced that four FM stations — one each at Agartala, Imphal, Shillong and Aizwal — would start airing programmes by March.