Cabinet approves rolling out Private FM radio to 234 uncovered new cities and towns

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for conduct of 3rd batch of ascending e-auctions for 730 channels in 234 new cities with estimated reserve price of Rs.784.87 crore under Private FM Radio Phase Ill Policy. The Cabinet also approved the proposal to charge Annual License Fee (ALF) of FM channel as 4% of gross revenue excluding GST. This will be applicable for 234 new cities and towns.

The Private FM Radio rollout will fulfil the unmet demand for FM radio in these cities  and towns, which still remain uncovered by Private FM radio broadcasting and bring new content in their local lingual.

The 234 new places are Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar;  Adoni, Anantapuram, Bheemavaram, Chilakaluripet, Chirala, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Dharmavaram, Eluru, Guntakal, Hindupur, Kakinada, Kurnool, Machilipatnam, Madanapalle, Nandyal, Narasaraopet, Ongole, Proddatur, Srikakulam, Tadpatri, and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh;  Arrah, Aurangabad, Bagaha, Begusarai, Bettiah, Bhagalpur, Bihar Sharif, Chhapra, Darbhanga, Gaya, Kishanganj, Motihari, Munger, Purnia, Saharsa, Sasaram, Sitamarhi, and Siwan, in Bihar;  Ambikapur, Jagdalpur, and Korba in Chhattisgarh; Daman in Daman & Diu; Amreli, Bhuj, Botad, Dahod, Gandhidham, Jetpur Navagadh, Patan, and Surendranagar Dudhrej, in Gujarat; Ambala, Bhiwani, Jind, Kaithal, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, and Thanesar, in Haryana; Anantnag in J&K; Bokaro Steel City, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Giridih, Hazaribag, and Medninagar (Daltonganj), in Jharkhand; Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davangere, Gadag Betigeri, Hassan, Hospet, Kolar, Raichur, Shimoga, Tumkur, and Udupi, in Karnataka; Kanhangad (Kasaragod), and Palakkad in Kerala; Kavaratti in Lakshadweep; Betul, Burhanpur, Chhatarpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Guna, Itarsi, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandsaur, Murwara (Katni), Neemuch, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Seoni, Shivpuri, Singrauli, and Vidisha, in Madhya Pradesh; Achalpur, Barshi, Chandrapur, Gondiya, Latur, Malegaon, Nandurbar, Osmanabad, Udgir, Wardha, and Yavatmal, in Maharashtra; Imphal in Manipur; Jowai in Meghalaya; Lunglei in Mizoram; Dimapur, Kohima, and Mokukchung in Nagaland; Baleshwar, Baripada, Berhampur, Bhadrak, Puri, and Sambalpur in Odisha; Abohar, Barnala, Bathinda, Firozpur, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Moga, Muktsar, and Pathankot, in Punjab; Alwar, Banswara, Beawar, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Chittaurgarh, Churu, Dhaulpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Hindaun, Jhunjhunu, Makrana, Nagaur, Pali, Sawai Madhopur, Sikar, Sujangarh, and Tonk, in Rajasthan; Coonoor, Dindigul, Karaikudi, Karur, Nagarcoil / Kanyakumari, Neyveli, Pudukkottai, Rajapalayam, Thanjavur, Tiruvannamalai, and Vaniyambadi, in Tamil Nadu; Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kothagudem, Mahbubnagar, Mancherial, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ramagundam, Suryapet, Telangana; Belonia in Tripura; Akbarpur, Azamgarh, Badaun, Bahraich, Ballia, Banda, Basti, Deoria, Etah, Etawah, Faizabad / Ayodhya, Farrukhabad cum  Fatehgarh, Fatehpur, Ghazipur, Gonda, Hardoi, Jaunpur, Lakhimpur, Lalitpur, Mainpuri, Mathura, Maunath Bhanjan (Distt. Mau), Mirzapur cum Vindhyachal, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Orai, Raebareli, Saharanpur, Shahjahanpur, Shikohabad, Sitapur, and Sultanpur, in Uttar Pradesh; Haldwani cum Kathgodam, Haridwar, Uttarakhand; Alipurduar, Baharampur, Balurghat, Bangaon, Bankura, Barddhaman, Darjiling, Dhulian, English Bazar  (Maldah), Kharagpur, Krishnanagar, Puruliya, and Raiganj, in West Bengal.

BCS Bureau