NEW DELHI: Radio aired a total of 1,07,532 spots for the first and second phases of the Bharat Nirman Campaign between May and September.

This included 12,600 by All India Radio across 92 stations and 94,932 spots across 216 private FM stations. This was apart from 6,048 spots aired on 36 community radio stations.

These figures were revealed by Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari at the launch of the online portal for the Bharat Nirman Campaign which provides an interactive digital platform for the creative campaign on various schemes and programmes of the Bharat Nirman Campaign.

The Minister also launched All India Radio`s free News SMS service. The service provides AIR news headlines free of cost to its subscribers on mobile telephones. There are two or three headlines in each SMS, which also carried a public service information message. The event was attended among others by I and B Secretary Bimal Julka, DAVP Director General G Mohanty, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, Director General (Media and Communications) Neelam Kapoor, and All India Radio Director General L D Mandloi.

AIR News Services Division Director General Archana Datta said there will be three updates every day. She clarified this would not replace the news on phone which people would continue to get. People willing to subscribe to the service can SMS “AIRNEWS their name” to 08082080820. They can also give a missed call to 08082080820 to subscribe to the service. So far 200,000 people have subscribed to the service.

The Song & Drama Division is also developing a new production taking forward the theme of ‘Priya Power’ which is scheduled to be launched in mid-September at the Red Fort grounds, New Delhi.

In addition, Prasar Bharati conceptualised different programmes such as serials, interviews of eminent personalities and success stories/achievements of flagship schemes. Doordarshan has been airing a serial named “Poorva Suhani Aaye Re” every Wednesday and Thursday at 10.00 pm and All India Radio has come up with a serial named “Priya”. Answering questions, the Minister said the Press Council of India had been asked to go into measures that can be taken to ensure the safety of mediapersons.