Assam government to start own TV channel: Tarun Gogoi
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network

Guwahati, April 23 2012: Two days after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that her government will soon launch a newspaper and a television channel to focus on the positive side of things in the state affairs, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi inspired by his Bengal counterpart, said his government would soon launch its own television channel to 'show the truth' .

This comment of the Assam chief minister was apparently driven by the way certain local television channels gave coverage regarding the recent 12-hour bandh sponsored by the anti-talks United Liberation Front of Asom's (ULFA) on the day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Assam.

Fuming over the manner the television channels telecast the Assam chief minister said, "The television channels had sensationalised, exaggerated the ULFA bandh episode, and they ignored the good side of that day" .

Lauding Banerjee for her wise decision to launch the West Bengal government's own TV channel, Gogoi said: "I am following in her footsteps to highlight our government's achievements.

Having a dedicated TV channel like Lok Sabha is important" .

The chief minister was acerbic about private TV channels ignoring the government's success stories.

"Our proposed channel will stress on disseminating correct information of our policies and programmes of education, health and agriculture sector," he said, praising Doordarshan for its constructive programmes on education and agriculture.

Meanwhile, the Assam government has decided to launch special development schemes along the state's border to check the spread of Maoism.

Gogoi had in a memorandum to the Prime Minister said Maoists were taking advantage of Assam's conflict situation to establish presence in seven districts.

He urged Singh to include these districts in the Integrate Action Plan against Left-wing extremism.

Much of the Maoist activities are in eastern Assam bordering Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland besides western Assam bordering West Bengal and Bhutan.

"There are some pockets where Maoists recently made inroads.

These are border areas with poor or no development.

We have targeted these areas for uplift so that Maoists have no ground for recruiting people," the Assam chief minister stated.

The seven districts where Maoism has raised its head are Kokrajhar, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Sivasagar , Dibrugarh and Golaghat.

The Maoists have been primarily targeting sizeable Adivasi population thanks to expansive tea plantations in these districts.

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