Jammers hampered live telecast, complain Team Anna members

Team Anna has blamed the presence of “jammers” near Ram Lila Ground after the LED screen installed at the venue to telecast Anna Hazare’s address from Mumbai developed several glitches on Tuesday.

The screen, managed by a technical team, was placed near the stage meant for Team Anna core members.

“We had set up a dish antenna and had taken all possible care so that nothing goes wrong. But the screen didn’t work due to some kind of jammers in the area,” said Aswathi Muralidharan, India Against Corruption spokesperson.

The attempt to show live telecast from Mumbai was first made before noon. A glimpse of Hazare, who is on a three-day fast in Mumbai, enthralled the crowd at Ramlila Ground briefly. But the telecast link failed to work after a few minutes, leaving the crowd in silence.

Local operators

IAC volunteers then contacted local cable operators. “We didn’t have the time to check with the company that promised to uplink the live telecast. They said there were some jammer issues. Our team were able to show the live telecast with help from local cable operators,” said Muralidharan.

When the LED screen came to life again, the crowd continued to listen to Hazare’s speech and in unison they said, “Anna hum tumhare saath hai.”

“We are with you Anna. We will fight till the end,” said Ajay Jaiswal, a government school teacher from west Delhi.

“It was a tense moment for us. But we are thankful that we were able to show Anna's address through different news channel that were covering live there,” said Muralidharan.

Later, the crowd shouted slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the screen showed him talking in Lok Sabha.

The screen will be placed at the venue for two more days. “We will show live telecast to our supporters for the next two days the way we did on Tuesday,” added Muralidharan.