Set against a picturesque backdrop, the TV tower in Kurseong welcomes you to the hill town located 32 km from Darjeeling. The Doordarshan transmission centre, however, has been closed from January 1 leading to discontent among locals.
The TV station is considered a heritage structure by local residents, who are disgruntled at its closure. They said the tower had been closed as it ran on an analog system.
From local residents to political parties, many are approaching the authorities to reopen the tower considered as the identity of the town.
Anit Thapa, previously with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and now has his own party Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, has already written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Thapa has requested her to look into the issues of the closure of the Doordarshan transmission centre in Kurseong. In his letter, he said, “The decision and the move of the central government to shut down the low power transmission (TV tower) centre located at Kurseong, Darjeeling, is highly regrettable, and as a result, visitors will now have to opt for local cable television networks or DTH connections.”
He also wrote, “Doordarshan has a nostalgic value attached to it and so is the TV tower located at Nayabazar, Kurseong. It is as iconic as the place itself. For outsiders, at first glance, it may be a tourist attraction on top of a hill, a structure made of iron and steel, but for us it has an emotional value. The tower signifies a symbol of pride, hope and belonging and our land.”
Academic Vikam Rai said people of the hills were emotionally attached to the TV tower. “This is our identity; we can’t imagine Kurseong without this tower. This has historical significance. They can make digital station. They should understand heritage status and restart it.”
Not only locals, but BJP MLA BP Bajgain also sat in a dharna to demanding that the station be reopened. Bajgain told News18, “I have written a letter to the Centre, I will go to Delhi with this. The aviation lights in the tower have stopped too. They are saying analog system has been stopped, to make it digital. Though I am from the BJP, I represent people of the hills.”
Top government sources said the analog terrestrial TV transmitter at Kurseong had been phased out, but stressed that the move will have no bearing on the All India Radio transmissions in the region.
Confirming that the move is part of an ongoing rationalisation exercise being carried out by Prasar Bharati, a senior government official said, “This is part of phasing out obsolete analog terrestrial TV transmitters.”
Prasar Bharati, as part of the exercise, has phased out several analog TV transmitters across the country over the past year.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment