It has been more than two years that the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) has not renewed the licenses of the existing Community Radio Stations (CRS) even after repeated reminders from various CRS and I& B (Information and Broadcasting) Ministry. To add to their misery the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) had issued a letter asking the CRS to forward their respective licenses to avoid the cancellation of their empanelment.

Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Community Radio Association national president Kandarpa Das said, “The deadline for the letter issued by DAVP was 31 October. As per the letter, if the Community Radio stations fail to provide the licenses then the stations will not receive the funds from DAVP.”

WPC comes under the wing of communication, which is the part of the department of telecom, whereas DAVP is linked to I&B Ministry. However, the CRS are dependent on DAVP for the Government adverts. “Community Radio is tangled between two Ministries and we are being pushed from both sides. We have presented all the facts in front of I&B (Information and Broadcasting) Ministry but WPC is not responding to anyone. It is very difficult to function for many Community radio stations if the Ministries have such an attitude,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile, recently I& B (Information and Broadcasting) Ministry had set-up committee to revise Community Radio air-time rates which is not a ray of hope in amidst all this.

Source RadioandMusic.com