[cr-india] radio kept them connected...

[sajan venniyoor]

When radio kept them connected... 
Satarupa Bhattacharjya / New Delhi / The Pioneer
 
Battery-operated radio sets are possibly the only source of information and entertainment for the people in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands who are trying to get on with their lives after the tsunami disaster.
 
Since electricity supply, disrupted by the killer waves, was restored only by Thursday on the island chain, the affected people have not been able to watch TV for over a week. Of the 15 Doordarshan transmitters on the island, four high-powered ones have been damaged and two more would need partial repair. DD director-general Navin Kumar has dispatched a team to the island chain to access the extent of damage.
 
"A team of experts is currently surveying the island and will tell us about the kind of repair work the installations would require," Mr Kumar said on Thursday. As a result, the island where satellite TV penetration is only limited to Port Blair, the TV screens went blank for the last week. With power supply restored, DD viewers there can now get back to their TV sets, unless of course, the TV sets themselves have been washed away. Fortunately for the other public broadcaster All-India Radio (AIR), two of its transmitters are located in Port Blair's highest point where the waves could not wreck havoc and are still safe. 
 
AIR's exceptional luck also translated to its radio station on Chennai's Marina beach, where the menacing waves did touch the main staircase of the station building but retracted without entering the building.
 

 
 
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