Karnataka Government to launch its own channel Gram Swaraj TV

The State Government is launching its own television channel called Gram Swaraj TV.   The RDPR will start the channel to showcase various projects and achievements of the State Government. The Doordarshan Kendra which is under Prasar Bharathi is a Central Government undertaking. DD works under the guidelines of Central Government, hence the need to launch State’s own channel. The RDPR will take the help of a private organisation called T R Media Network to install the set up.

The State Government is planning to launch its own television channel called Gram Swaraj TV.  The Rural Development and Panchayath Raj Department (RDPR) will start its own channel to showcase various projects, programs and achievements of the State Government, reported Kannada Prabha.

The Doordarshan Kendra which is under Prasar Bharathi is a Central Government undertaking and does not facilitate the State Government to utilise it full time for reaching out to the people. Also DD works under the guidelines of Central Government. Hence the need to launch State’s own channel.

The RDPR Department has decided to take the help of a private organisation called T R Media Network to install the set up. This company had submitted a proposal of Rs 20 crores to install the news and infotainment channel and a monthly maintenance of Rs 2.50 crore. However, RDPR was hesitant to invest such a huge amount.

Also the experts consulted opined that it should not be on the model of all news channels. Hence it was scaled down to Rs 10 crores of initial investment.  The budget proposal of Rs 2.50 crore towards carriage fee for cable operators, personnel salary and other expenses has been brought down to Rs 1.5 crore.

The Department of Information and Publicity has cleared the budget submitted by T R Media Network as reasonable compared to market rates. Hence RDPR is all set to launch Gram Swaraj TV as soon as the Finance Department clears the proposal.