NEW DELHI: High power FM transmitters of All India Radio are being set up at 12 locations for strengthening of the FM coverage along border areas.

These include one each in Assam, Tripura, Punjab and Rajasthan, and four in Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal.

Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu told the Rajya Sabha that the last of these will be up by March 2017.

In addition to this, schemes for setting up of 10 kW FM transmitters at six locations specially for providing coverage along Indo-Nepal Border have also been approved.

These 10 kW FM transmitters are to be installed at Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) sites (under Home Ministry). The selection of the six sites is under process in consultation with SSB.

Of these, six may take about three years of time after possession of land at SSB premises subject to receipt of necessary clearances on frequency authorization by Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocation (SACFA), etc.

Apart from the above, 1kW/5 kW FM transmitters at 15 locations are also being installed for strengthening of the FM coverage along border areas.
These include one each in Manipur, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat; two each in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam; and three in Arunachal Pradesh. The last of these will be ready by March 2018

Strengthening of the terrestrial coverage of AIR and Doordarshan to counter foreign broadcast signal along border areas is a priority of Government and is an ongoing process.

Special packages for expansion and improvement of Doordarshan and AIR services in the border areas have been formulated from time to time, the Minister said.