Doordarshan Bachao activists submit memo to Hisar MLA

The activists of the Doordarshan Bachao Jan Sangharsh Samiti, who have been staging dharna for 674 days in Hisar, urged the Hisar MLA Savitri Jindal to raise their demand for restoration of the Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) in Hisar during the coming Assembly session.

The activists submitted a memorandum of their demand to the newly-elected Independent MLA Jindal and urged the Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to resume the operations from the DDK-Hisar. The Centre’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry has shifted the DDK from Hisar to Chandigarh in January 2023.

Responding to the demand of the Samiti, Jindal assured the activists that she would take up the matter with the Chief Minister, besides raising the issue at the floor of the House in the coming session of Assembly.

Samiti pradhan Inder Singh Malik said their dharna has been going on at the entrance of the DDK-Hisar, which is an abandoned building now for the last 674 days. “We are hopeful that the new government, headed by Nayab Singh Saini, will listen to our demands and flag the issue with the Central Government so that the Doordarshan programmes can be resumed from here,” he said.

The Doordarshan Kendra complex, spread over nearly eight acres of land, comprises a residential complex for the employees in Sector 13 of the town. The DDK-Hisar was set up and inaugurated by the then Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj on November 1, 2002. The complex that operated for nearly 21 years was closed on January 15, 2023, when the ministry decided shift to it to Chandigarh.

Malik said as per their information, there are 18 other DDKs operating in different states across the country. “The dharna will continue until the state and Centre governments accept our demand and withdraw the orders of the transfer to Chandigarh,” he added. Malik added that the then Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had visited the DDK-Hisar in December, 2022, which was followed by the decision to shut operations.

The Samiti activists said this was the lone DDK in Haryana which has been serving the people of the state. “This Kendra is a necessity for the state as it was useful for the public and government in the interest of justice towards citizens in Haryana as many cultural, educational, agricultural and healthcare related programmes used to be telecasted from here,” they said, adding that while the regular staff had been shifted to other stations and casual staff was given marching orders, the infrastructure and equipment were still lying inside the building.

Samiti president Malik said as per their estimates, it would take a huge sum of around Rs 3,500 crore to set up another complex in Hisar or anywhere in the state. “But it’s unfortunate that the already established system was being left to rot,” he said.