SLBC reaches out to villages
 

BY RAJMI Manatunga

THE Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) will shortly launch a Rural Broadcast Service (RBS) to provide a forum to discuss issues of the rural population.

The new service to be launched on August 2 is expected to enable people in the rural areas including the North-East to voice their opinions and forward their problems to the authorities.

RBS Controller Priyani Gunaratne told a press conference yesterday that the SLBC decided to launch the service after a three-month study in several rural areas.

"Unlike other electronic media, the SLBC has a national task to provide what is good to the people of this country.

In the fields of economic development, human rights and agricultural development the views of the rural population are hardly reflected. We hope to facilitate the participation of the rural masses in these areas through the new service," she said.

Gunaratne said that rural economic conditions, agriculture, education and poverty will be among the issues that would be discussed in the programmes to be broadcast over the new service.

The new service will be broadcast live every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 6.30 to 7.30 am over the following FM frequencies: Colombo 98.3, Yatiyantota 90.3, Karagahatenna 107.6, Haputale 90.4, Deniyaya 99.6, Hunnasgiriya 102.0 and Radella 97.0.

"We hope to extend our airtime beyond one hour and start programmes in the Tamil medium," SLBC Board of Control member Leel Gunasekere said.