In a recent email message, Gautam Kumar Sharma of Abhayapuri in the northeast Indian state of Assam alerted us to two interesting items of radio information that we are pleased to pass on to Wavescan listeners. One radio item that he referred to was the story of a Royal Bengal Tiger that prowled through the estate of All India Radio in Tezpur and the other was the story of a fire at All India Radio Itanagar.Both stories, the Tezpur Tiger and the Itanagar Fire, transpired back in the year 2015. In our program today, we tell the Tiger Story, and on another occasion some time soon, we will tell the story of the fire at AIR Itanagar.
The North East area of India, beyond the narrow Siliguri Corridor, is home these days to more than 200 ethnic groups and considerably more languages and dialects. In ancient times, these peoples moved in from other areas of Asia and they settled permanently in those localities that have in the last two and three centuries become part of India.
In the colonial days under the British Raj, the North East India territories were organized somewhat into three major areas; the two princely states of Tripura and Manipur and the encompassing territory of Assam. During the years after gaining independence from the British in 1947, four more states were cut off from the territory of Assam, thus ultimately constituting a total of seven North Eastern states known affectionately as the Seven Sister States.
As a result of a popular referendum in nearby Sikkim, this somewhat independent Himalayan country that was already under a protectorate status with India, was assimilated into India in 1975 as the 22nd state of the union. Thus North East India, beyond the Siliguri Corridor, is made up these days of eight states, and a narrow section of the state of West Bengal.
The Siliguri Corridor joins North East India with mainland India, and at its narrowest, it is just 14 miles wide. The narrow gauge railway line that runs through the Siliguri Corridor is currently under conversion to an electrified double broad-gauge line.
The Indian state of Assam as it is now constituted is the second largest state in the North East with an area of a little over 30,000 square miles, a population of 31 million, and a multitude of spoken languages. The city of Tezpur with a population of more than 100,000 lies near the center of the state on the north side of the Bramaputra River.
Within the state of Assam there are four National Parks that have been created in an endeavor to preserve the Royal Bengal Tiger, as well as other indigenous and endangered animals, such as the One Horned Rhinoceros, the Eastern Swamp Deer, and the unique monkey known as the Golden Langur.
On Monday October 5, 2015, the Wildlife Trust of India in Tezpur received a phone call from the Divisional Forest Officer Narayan Mahanta informing them that a Royal Bengal Tiger had been observed on the transmitter campus of All India Radio at Tezpur. By late afternoon, a team of experienced wildlife personnel from the Wildlife Trust arrived on the radio station campus and they discovered the remains of a goat that had been killed by the tiger.
A camera trap was set up near the animal carcass. A replay of the video next day showed that a young male tiger had entered the scene for just a split second. That same day, a more elaborate camera trap, together with a cage and live bait, were set up nearby.
This cat and mouse scenario, or more accurately, tiger and bait scenario, took place over a period of six days. Occasionally the tiger was heard nearby with its loud roar, and also occasionally it was seen on the station property and nearby.
The last that was known of this tiger was on Saturday October 10, when fresh tiger tracks, known locally as pug marks, were observed near the Bramaputra River. This active young male tiger, a Royal Bengal Tiger, had moved away to maraud in another area.
The studios of All India Radio in Tezpur are located at suburban Gotlong Gaon, Village Gotlong, just off Highway 37, and quite near to the commercial operation of Chand Ford. All India Radio Tezpur is a relatively new mediumwave station, and a perusal of the WRTVHB shows that it was constructed and taken into service during the first few years of this current 21st century.
The transmitter facility is located at Morabhoroli, where the shadow of the single tall mediumwave mast can be seen on Google Earth. The shadow of the tower also shows the FM antenna attached to the mediumwave mast. This transmitter station was installed in the somewhat lengthy corner block, and the young Royal Bengal Tiger was seen on the cleared edge of the property near the stand of trees.
AIR Tezpur has always radiated 20 kW on the standard 9 kHz spaced frequency of 1125 kHz, and the FM channel carrying the same programming radiates at 102.4 MHz with 1 kW.
(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 503)