Repair of All India Radio tower begins in Amritsar

Two-and-a half years after the installation of the tilted 300-metre high tower of the All India Radio at Gharinda village, near the Indo-Pak border, the work on its rectification has been initiated.

The 300 metres (approximately 1000 feet) tall steel frame tower, built for radio and television between 2007 and 2013, at Gharinda, on Amritsar – Lahore Grand Trunk Road, had dismantled, possibly up to 100 metres. When The Tribune team visited the tower site, officials posted there said: “Relevant machinery is expected to reach the site this month after which the upper portion will be re-built, correcting some inclination in its vertical alignment.”

After finding the tower tilted, the Prasar Bharti had installed another stand-by 100 metre high tower, next to it in 2017. This short tower with 20 kilowatt FM radio transmitting antenna, which was originally installed on the 300-metre high tower, was commissioned in September of 2018.

According to Civil Engineer Harjap Singh Aujla, who has a vast experience in sound and picture propagation, said due to low height of the tower, the range was reduced to barely 50 kilometre radius, compared to 100 kilometers radius with the 300 metre high tower. In simple words, the area covered has been reduced to 25 percent of the originally designed area and the population served has also been reduced from 3.5 crores to 90 lakh in Pakistan. In India too, more than half of the Majha region is not covered by this transmitter.

Keeping an eye on Pak’s activities
The primary objective of the tower near the Indo-Pak border was to counter the propaganda of Pakistan in the border belt. The radio of Pakistan at Lahore has three FM transmitters targeting the Amritsar region. Tribune India