I&B minister flags off 9 new DSNG vans for Doordarshan

Public service broadcaster Doordarshan inducted nine new state-of-the-art broadcast vans on Monday to enhance its ability to provide real-time news to citizens.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore flagged off the vans, four of which are meant for the northeast areas -- Gangtok, Kohima, Imphal and Agartala, a statement from Doordarshan said.

Apart from this, new Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) units are also being deployed at Allahabad, Vishakhapatnam, Chandigarh, Jagdalpur and Pune, it said.

With the induction of these nine DSNG vans, Doordarshan now has a fleet of 43 vans, including 25 C-Band and 18 Ku-Band DSNG vans, the statement said.

DSNGs are mobile earth stations which enable broadcasting from any remote place through a satellite system.

At the event Rathore said, "The citizens of a country that is progressing fast, also need news at a fast pace -- real time news. Nine vans have been flagged off today... I am told that probably no other broadcasting agency across the world has these many vans."