Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday wrote to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar raising the issue of Prasar Bharati's directives for reassigning All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan Kendra (DDK) in Dibrugarh as relay centres only. He urged Javadekar to retain the present status of both AIR and DD Dibrugarh centres as these centres have been instrumental in reflecting the cultural mosaic and indigenous traditions of communities in Upper Assam and even eastern districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

This was informed through a press release issued by the CM office.

In the letter, it was mentioned that both the Dibrugarh centres of DDK have been functioning as a full-fledged station since 1993. AIR Dibrugarh on the other hand completed 50 years in 2019. The chief minister have hence said that they should not be relegated to the status of relay centres as Guwahati centres of AIR and DDK would be overburdened to appropriately mirror the rich cultural nuances of this part of country.

CM Sonowal also touched upon the concerns caused by transfer of artistes and employees from DD Dibrugarh to outside Northeastern region without replacements and underlined the resentment caused among the leading citizens of the state about the possible loss of employment opportunities for local artistes in both the centres.

Furthermore, he stated that the present status of AIR and DDK, Dibrugarh should be retained and should be allowed to transmit own locally produced programmes in order to preserve and sustain the language, culture and heritage of the state.