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| Radio Pakistan (courtesy of Yimber Giviria) |
Quetta:
The Balochistan government has finalised a plan to take over 64 acres of land
owned by Radio Pakistan in Quetta by shutting down the station’s transmission,
removing its machinery and transmission towers from the Sariab area.
On
Wednesday, sources confirmed that government officials had been directed to put
finishing touches on the plan to take over land worth billions of rupees
belonging to the radio station. Sources claim that the land was being taken over
under the pretext of constructing a sports complex and park.
Also read: Radio Pakistan woes
“You
will not be able to listen to local shows or programmes in other languages from
Radio Pakistan Quetta,” said a senior Radio Pakistan official while talking to
IDawnI. “The government is going to remove the transmission towers and other
machinery from the land on Sariab Road. It was allotted to Radio Pakistan in
1964.”
He
added that by using this piece of land for a sports complex would be like
gagging the voice of the station as it would be take several shows, including
those on recitation of the Holy Quran and other popular programmes in different
languages, off the air.According to the station’s senior official, when a
government official was asked about why they wanted these 64 acres, he replied:
“Some people have had their eyes set on this precious land for a long time. They
want to take over the land by claiming to build a sports complex even though
Quetta already has a large sports complex [Ayub Stadium].”
The
station was set up in Quetta in 1956 on 64 acres on Sariab Road. In 1959, Radio
Pakistan installed medium-wave and short-wave transmitters on the property so
the station’s programmes could be heard all over the province.
Radio
Pakistan Quetta had installed 93.5 kilowatt transmission on the site before
Ramazan this year, and had launched an FM transmission, “Sout-ul-Quran”, for
programmes related to recitation of the Holy Quran and Islamic teachings.An
official of Radio Pakistan expressed fears that if the provincial government
decided to go ahead with the plan, these transmissions and shows would have to
be taken off the airwaves.
A
government official said the Shahwani Sports Stadium constructed by the
government had the capacity for building a new sports complex and was located
close to Radio Pakistan. He said that the provincial government also had acres
of official land available on the Hazarganji and Sibi roads linking to Sariab
Road and they could construct a new sports complex there instead.
He
added that he did not know why the provincial government was insisting on
constructing a sports complex on Radio Pakistan’s property. A senior official of
the radio station said the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation should take notice
of what was happening in Quetta and ask the federal government to release funds
to install powerful transmitters and other equipment to enable Radio Pakistan
Quetta to air its programmes for listeners across the province.
Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2015