Post News Network
Cuttack: Broadcasting of at least three private FM radio channels and two FM channels of All India Radio (AIR) were disrupted after fire broke out at the transmission room of a private radio station functioning on the premises of old Doordarshan campus here at Tulasipur, Tuesday.
On being informed, fire brigade personnel reached the spot along with two fire engines and tried to douse the fire. The blaze was brought under control after over an hour, district fire officer C M Routray said.
A lot of equipment at the transmission room was destroyed in the mishap. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the mishap occurred due to a short-circuit. There was no casualty in the fire.
Routray said a spark triggered by a short circuit in one of the uninterrupted power supply (UPS) units in the radio station caused the inferno.
‘‘Equipment including UPS, invertors, some furniture and a part of the ceiling have been gutted in the mishap,’’ Routray said adding there was no fire-fighting equipment in place in the radio station.
Private FM radio channels 93.5 Red FM, 104 Radio Chocolate and 92.7 Big FM channels operate from the building and their programmes were broadcast through the FM antenna of the AIR.
‘‘Since we had to snap the power supply to the antenna as a precautionary measure, our own FM broadcasts of Vibhidh Bharati and Rainbow were also affected,’’ said an AIR official.
All India Radio assistant station director Surendra Nath Samal said, “Transmission was disrupted from 11 am to 4pm. However, services were restored thereafter.”