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www.southgatearc.org
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Listeners to Indian pirate radio offer money to keep it on airAn electronics whizz who became a local hero after setting up a pirate radio station with spare parts that cost just one dollar, was inundated Wednesday with offers of support after the government shut him down. FM Mansoorpur, set up three years by Raghav
Mahto using bits and pieces from his electronics repair shop, was closed
earlier this week because it did not have a licence. "I am willing to offer 5,000 rupees (100 dollars) to anyone who secures a licence for Raghav's radio services," said Damodar Singh, a listener from Mansoorpur village, 75 kilometres (45 miles) from Patna, capital of eastern Bihar state. An estimated 4,000 listeners over a radius of 12 kilometres (seven miles) regularly tuned in to FM Mansoorpur to hear selections from Mahto's extensive collection of Bollywood songs as well as messages from locals. The federal government's move to close the station came after it invited bids in January for more than 300 new FM radio stations across the country. Local officials were unsure of the cost of a licence, but said it could be at least 100,000 rupees (2,220 dollars), a sum Mahto could not afford. Mahto would have "top priority" if he applied for a loan under a government scheme in order to pay for a licence, they said. Mahto said he was optimistic of a solution. "I am down but not yet out," he said.
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