AIR's generosity turns costly as people stymie its plans

Broadcaster's move to erect collapsed wall is being opposed

For All India Radio at Brahmavar, its generosity of giving its land for road for ensuring free movement of fire service and for public utility in 1984, is proving to be a costly affair.

Now it is the same public who are putting hurdles for this government organisation to build the compound wall in their property which had collapsed sometime ago. 

The  locals who have been benefitted by the largesse of All India Radio are now demanding more land to widen the existing road by another 10 feet which will be detrimental not only to All India Radio (Brahmavar), but also to the general public.
The 22 acre land was brought by the department in 1974-75 and is the property of AIR, Brahmavar. The government again brought 8 more segments of land by paying to the private parties.   The private party had gone in for litigation asking more money and that was also given. 

AIR, Brahmavar, has been functioning from since 1976 having radio channels that are broadcasted and covered in about five districts in the primary and almost all parts of Karnataka and a few places in Kerala in the secondary coverage area. Recently though, owing to stormy winds, two 109 metres masts had fallen which resulted in the interruption in transmission of AM mode. Fortunately, no damage was done to life because of the vast expanse of land around the mast.

Under the guidance of Additional Director General (ADG) Chennai, technical staff from various places teamed up to reinstall the transmitter antenna. The transmitter was made functional just in time to make the National Public Broadcaster reach the people as usual.

Meanwhile, the compound wall of the station was damaged and the local office was given instruction to repair the compound wall immediately as the area is prohibited as per the government rules.

Due to radiation of RF energy as well as danger of electrocution due to lightning, entering the area is prohibited.  Further leaving more land to the road will hamper any future expansion programmes for All India Radio apart from the ill effects radiation might cause in the close vicinity.

Shrinking the land further might also result in compromising the height of the mast which might affect transmission reach.

Locals a hurdleWhen the officials of AIR Brahmavar and AIR Mangalore went to the spot to carry on with the repair work of the compound wall, they were taken by surprise as the locals covered the area and demanded that the land must be given to them to expand the 5 meter road.

The Deputy Commissioner looked into this matter and directed the Tahsildar to prepare and submit a report. Curiously, the Tahsildar has also directed the department to approach the local MP which is surprising considering that it is the private property of AIR Brahmavar.

The locals are allegedly trying to grab the government land with the indirect support of local MP even though there is private property all along the road on the other side.  

However, it may be recalled that this is not the first instance where the locals attempted to grab the area belonging to AIR and DD. The same issue took place in Kasargod, Kerala a few days ago but the DC of Kasargod provided security to the officials to carry on with their work of building compound forward.

According to reports, the locals have taken a further step by approaching the MP of Udupi- Chikkamagaluru and have demanded to free the land  to widen the road.  In fact, Air Brahmavar has already lost 2 acres of land for widening the highway recently. Sensing the impending danger, the convener of National Federation of AIR and DD Mangalore has given a representation to the Lok Sabha MP in this regard. The Rajya Sabha MP has also been briefed about this matter.DH News Service