MUMBAI, April 27: The Mai Marathi channel, to be launched by the state government on May 1 to promote Marathi language and culture, will be headed by the former chairman of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Ravi Gupta. Gupta's appointment, in spite of the Shiv Sena's demand that there should be more Marathi officials in Doordarshan, is widely perceived as a shift from the government's policy to provide an impetus to Maharashtrians.After the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government assumed office in 1995, groups of Sainiks had taken morchas to the Doordarshan office at Worli, protesting the virtual non-existence of Marathi officials in the DD newsroom.
Gupta, a former IAS officer, had been the chairman of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). He resigned after a controversy recently.Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today announced in a press conference at Mantralaya that Gupta has been appointed as a consultant for the time being and will be posted as the channel director at alater stage. Joshi, accompanied by Cultural Affairs Minister Pramod Navalkar, said the channel will be inaugurated at the hands of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the occasion of Maharashtra Day.
The channel will air programmes between 6 to 6.30 pm from Monday to Friday. All programmes will be based on Marathi culture, folk arts, history, saints and literature. ``The channel, targetted at the rural audience, will also air information about governmental schemes and policies. However, it won't be a government documentary show,'' Joshi said. The other themes for the programmes will be agriculture, co-operation movement, women's problems, wild life, tribal life, important places, celebrities and freedom fighters. The government will request sponsors and advertisers to help the channel financially. The channel will cost the state exchequer Rs 6.5 crore annually.
From May 1, a light and sound show will also be started at Rajabai Tower in Mumbai University. Prepared by former chief secretary DineshAfzalpurkar along the lines of a same show being presented at Red Fort in New Delhi, the show will be of one hour duration and will be held every Saturday and Sunday.
``The show is based on various ideas and forms of freedom, like liberation of women, development of education, progressing society and industrial boom. It primarily depicts important events in the making of Mumbai till 1960, the period in which the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement was launched to include Mumbai in Maharashtra. It will also cover the Indian freedom struggle,'' Afzalpurkar said. The script for the show has been written by Mangesh Kulkarni, while the sound, co-ordination and direction is by Ravindra Sathe. The show will cost about Rs 1.5 crore annually.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
