In a move to counter cross border propaganda from neighbours, the Indian government will provide free Doordarshan DTH connections to residents of far flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in villages in the border areas, according to a senior government official.

To achieve the goal of reaching out to people living in far-flung and border areas through the platform of DD Free Dish, the government has proposed to distribute 1.5 lakh (150,000) free FreeDish connections in such areas where cable service are not available, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra said.

Speaking in the Kangan sub-division area of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory or federally administered region, Chandra added that the tendering process for the distribution of FreeDish connections is underway and will be completed soon.

Chandra was in the border area to assess and review the outreach of DD FreeDish, which is a free DTH service of the public broadcaster.

The MIB secretary, according to an official statement, underlined the importance of the free service to the masses. He said that the FreeDish service is being distributed in far flung areas of Kashmir and its ambit will be increased in the times to come.

Complementing the Doordarshan centre in Srinagar for performing its duties efficiently, despite many challenges in the past, Chandra said that the Kendra or the centre aptly represents the local culture and traditions through its programmes, reaching the people with authentic information.

Some existing consumers of FreeDish in Kashmir’s Margund Kangan interacted with the government officials, sharing their feedback about the programmes available on various channels on the satellite platform, especially DD Kashir channel.

The local populace thanked the government for providing free FreeDish service, which has become vital in developing and promoting regional languages and providing news and entertainment via a wide range of TV channels.

Chandra was accompanied by Principal Director General, News, All India Radio; N. V. Reddy, Director General, Doordarshan; Mayank Agrawal, Additional Director General, Press Information Bureau Srinagar; Rajinder Chaudhry, Deputy Director News DDK Srinagar, Qazi Salman, and the officers of the district administration.

DD FreeDish is the only FTA DTH service in the country. The service is owned and operated by Prasar Bharati, DD’sparent. Launched in December, 2004, when it was called DD Direct, the service has no monthly subscription fee and a consumer has to pay a one-time affordable fee to buy the STB and the small-sized dish antenna. The service, according to estimates, has over 40 million+ subscriber base.