Akashvani launches new channel on Bangladesh, India ‘to act as a new bridge of amity’

The All India Radio (AIR), which is acclaimed for its role in 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan, has launched a new Bangla channel that will air contents of both Bangladesh and India.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee opened the ‘Akashvani Maitree’ on Tuesday in Kolkata and said this would be “an important channel of communication” between the two neighbours.

The proposal to establish a radio channel with content sharing from both the countries was discussed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in June last year.

Bangladesh President M Abul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury have issued separate messages welcoming the inauguration of the new radio channel.

They said it would act as “a bridge of amity” between the two neighbours.

The High Commission of India said a state-of-the-art transmitter has been installed in Chinsurah in West Bengal to enable the service to be broadcast throughout Bangladesh.

The service will be aired in India and Bangladesh on 594 KHz.

All India Radio is one of the world’s largest broadcasting networks and has been broadcasting for listeners within and outside India on a plethora of channels in different languages through varied modes and platforms.

Akashvani Kolkata received Bangladesh’s ‘Friends of Liberation War Honour’ for airing inspirational programmes and news for the freedom-loving Bangladeshis.

President Hamid in his message hoped that the new channel would be “a maiden venture” of the All India Radio which will provide “opportunity for blending contents from fields of art, culture, literature, music, sports, shared socio-economic issues both from Bangladesh and India transcending the political boundary”.

He said this channel would play “an important role in expanding good and meaningful neighbourly relations not only with Bangladesh but also creating an atmosphere of amity and positivity in the entire SAARC region”.

Prime Minister Hasina termed the concept a “unique” one.

She said this would ensure content among the broadest organisations of the two countries for closer cultural, economic, political and emotional bonding between the two neighbours.

She also recalled the contribution of Akashvani Kolkata in the 1971 war.