NEW DELHI: The Government has deferred its plan to shift the frequency of All India Radio FM Gold Delhi from 106.4 MHz to 100.1 MHz ‘subject to wider consultations’.

Parliament was told today by Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Manish Tewari that the proposal had been mooted initially in view of the compulsion for implementation of National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP) circulated by Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) under which AIR has to operate all its FM Channels within its allocated frequency band of 100 MHz to 103.7 MHz.

He said that FM Gold had been run simultaneously for some time on 100.1 MHz along with 106.4 MHz ‘for ensuring advance information to the listeners’. However, the decision to shift to 100.1 MHz met with ‘adverse reports in the media’.

Tewari said AIR had temporarily started its own additional FM Channel “Dilli FM” on 100.1 MHz exclusively for the coverage of CWG-2010 in Delhi.

After the Games got over, ‘it was decided to implement the above proposal considering the popularity gained by the new Channel on 100.1 MHz’.

The Minister stressed that FM Gold Delhi service has never been discontinued on 106.4 MHz and is still continuing on 106.4 MHz.

He also said that reports of alleged irregularities published in media during the Commonwealth Games (CWG 2010) relating to All India ‘were unfounded’.