Even as the country prepares for the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya later today, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has set up a Media Centre, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, at the Ram Katha Sangrahalaya.
An official government statement in New Delhi said on Sunday that the Media Centre is spread over 13,000 square feet with 340 workstations and has the capacity of accommodating 1,000 media persons.
The media set-up has facilities like a press conference room, media briefing room, media lounge, cafeteria, high-speed Wi-Fi, mobile toilet and air conditioning facilities for the people present within the campus.
Extensive arrangements have been made by the MIB and pubcaster Prasar Bharati for the live telecast of the ceremony. Doordarshan will telecast the entire event live in 4K quality on DD News and DD National channels.
Talking to the media in this regard, MIB Secretary Apurva Chandra said that on January 22, the programme will be telecast live through 40 cameras of Doordarshan. DD will also share a clean feed of the event in Ayodhya with news agencies ANI and PTI, he added.
Among other facilities available for the media persons at the Ayodhya Media Centre are laptops, photocopier, printer and continuous refreshments. Two nine feet long and 16 feet wide LED TVs have also been installed for the convenience of the media persons to watch the proceedings within the temple.
Meanwhile, transport facilities have been made available between Lucknow and Ayodhya for the media persons coming for the coverage in Ayodhya. Under this facility, seven buses will depart from Lucknow for Ayodhya at an interval of every 15 minutes from 4.30 am on January 22. These buses will also drop the media back to Lucknow after the conclusion of the programme.