NEW DELHI: All India Radio stations in Jammu and Kashmir have been assisting the measures to tackle the aftermath of the devastating floods in the state in their own way, with regular programmes to disseminate vital life saving information to the people affected by the recent onslaught of unprecedented floods in the state.

Although there was complete collapse of broadcast infrastructure as a consequence of the ferocious fury of the swirling waters in the widely popular Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, forcing it to go off the air, it has now commenced broadcast.

Taking swift and prompt action, AIR headquarters deployed additional programme and technical professionals to help restore the signal of All India Radio at Srinagar through at least the FM transmitter installed at Shankaracharya Hills, spared by flood fury. AIR personnel, braving lack of food and even the water, stuck to their assignment and restored people's voice to the people of Kashmir.

Consequently programmes like utility messages, helpline numbers and also having content offering psychological succor were broadcast. These were interspersed with suitable music, soothing recitations, befitting documentaries and, greatest of all, ‘vox populi' expressing people's feelings, emotions, expectations and sentiments. AIR did not depend on the technology available in Kashmir only but also made use of satellite communication technology.

The sister station in Jammu also continuously broadcast appropriate programmes taking crucial information support to the listeners in the state. Jammu and Srinagar stations of AIR are twins serving the people of the state and also whomsoever they reach across the border and LOC for the past six decades.

Though renowned international affairs expert Dr Amitabh Mattu terms AIR as the lifeline in the state, the complete collapse left the people in the station's service area despondent and distressed with an acute sense of loss.