Information and Broadcasting Minister Sh. Manish Tewari inaugurated the FM Gold Radio of All India Radio in Ludhiana today. With this launch, Ludhiana has become the fifth city in the country after four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta to have its own FM Gold Radio. Addressing a huge gathering in the auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan, Sh. Tewari said that being the largest and the most important industrial hub of Punjab, there was a long pending demand for a local Radio Station in Ludhiana, which has been fulfilled today. Sh. Tewari said that the current range of 20 KM radius of this radio with further be enhanced and studio-based programmes will be produced and broadcast from here. The broadcast of FM Gold Ludhiana can be heard on 100.1 Mega Hertz.
Tewari congratulated the Prasar Bharti officials and engineers for having made FM Gold Ludhiana a reality within a short span of four months. He hoped that the new radio will herald a new beginning in a city like Ludhiana, which was till now deprived of having a FM Radio of its own despite the one of the most important cities of Punjab. Those who addressed included Sh. Sukdev Singh Libra, MP from Fatehgarh Sahib, Sh. Jawahar Sirckar, CEO, Prasar Bharti, and Sh. L.D Mandloi, the Director General of All India Radio.
Earlier, Sh. Tewari formally inaugurated FM Gold Ludhiana in the BSNL premises in the Transport Nagar, from where FM Gold has started functioning. Present on this occasion, among others, included Sh. Surinder Dawar, Sh. Mohd. Sadiq (both MLAs), Sh. Pawan Dewan DCC (U) President, fomer State Ministers Sh. Malkiat Singh Dakha, Malkeet Singh Birmi and Isher Singh Meharban, Jagdev Singh Jassowal ex-MLA, Gurmel Pehalwan, Ashok Prashar Pappi, KK Bawa, Leena Taparia, Neelam Kohli, Hemraj Aggarwal, Amarjeet Tikka.
Speaking about his future plans about civic amenities in Ludhiana, Sh. Tewari declared that he has taken up the matter with the concerned Ministry for converting the existing Passport Sewa Kendra into a full-fledged Regional Passport Office, so that the applicants needn’t go to Chandigarh or Jalandhar. Sh. Tewari also promised to start a new Shatabdi train from Ludhiana to New Delhi via Ambala. He disclosed that the matter has already been taken with the Union Railways Minister.
Elaborating on the services being provided to Ludhiana, Sh. Tewari said that the Union Government has given about Rs. 100 Crore for laying various link roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna, work on many of which has either been completed or is nearing completion. Sh. Tewari said that he had also got air services between Ludhiana and Delhi resumed in 2010, but due to non-provision of other required infrastructure which had to be provided by the Punjab Government, the air services could not be further strengthened.
Sh. Tewari said that the Planning Commission had given Rs. 50 Crore to the State Government for the cleansing project for the Budha Nullah and another Rs. 16 Crore were released to the State Government by the Union Environment Ministry, but the State Government not only failed to contribute its own matching share of Rs. 50 Crore, but even spent the Central funds elsewhere. Sh. Tewari came down heavily on the State Government for illegal mining of sand, imposing E-Trip on traders, cable mafia and driving the State Government to bankruptcy. Sh. Tewari also questioned the mute silence being observed by the ruling alliance of Punjab with regard to the uprooting of Punjabi Sikh farmers in the Kutch district of Gujarat.
Tewari further added that with an allocation of Rs. 65 Crore by the Union Government under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) a fleet of 40 buses was started in Ludhiana for the City Bus Service. He said that he has also spent more than Rs. 11 Crore for various development works in district Ludhiana under his MP Local Area Development Scheme.
Sh. Tewari declared that during the last nine years of the UPA Government, political stability, internal security and communal harmony has been maintained and strengthened. The economy has registered 8.2 per cent growth in GDP in the 11th Plan even in the face of global slowdown, he added. Sh. Tewari said that instead of paying heed to sensational wrong propaganda, people should evaluate the performance of the UPA Government based on the facts. He said that now UPA Government is launching the world’s biggest Food Security Programme, under which 81 crore citizens will have a legal right to get rice, wheat and coarse food grains at the nominal rates of Rs. 3, 2 and 1 respectively.
Speaking on the occasion the Prasar Bharati CEO Sirckar declared that within a couple of months local programmes produced in the local FM Gold Radio will be aired from this station and initially one hour locally produced programmes each in the morning and evening will be aired. Thereafter the duration of the broadcast of locally produced programmes will be increased.