Kathmandu, February 12:

Political leaders today stressed the need for the Radio Nepal to air programmes to educate Nepali citizens about the April 10 election to constituent assembly.

Speaking at an interaction on Effective Role of the Radio Nepal in constituent assembly and its Autonomy organised by Radio Nepal chapter of Federation of Nepalese Journalist (FNJ) mark the chapter’s sixth conference, senior leader of the Nepali Congress, Prakash Saran Mahat, said that the government media like Radio Nepal should educate all the Nepali

people about the importance of constituent assembly election.

“Rather than being a mouthpiece of the ruling party, the Radio Nepal should take steps to disseminate information about the importance of constituent assembly because the reach of the Radio Nepal is larger than other radio stations,” he said.

Mahat added, “The information aired by the Radio Nepal should inspire all Nepali citizens in the rural areas to cast their vote in the constituent assembly election.”

Stressing on the autonomy of the government media like Radio Nepal, he said they should be made more autonomous so that unbiased information can be disseminated.

Central committee leader of the CPN-UML, Raghu Pant, underscored the necessity of the Radio Nepal to change itself in the changed context where it has to compete with several FM stations across the country.

“Radio Nepal is the only radio station with coverage through out the country.

It should work towards making people aware of loktantra and its advantages,” he said.

Speaker of the interim parliament Subas Chandra Nembang said, “The Radio Nepal should present itself as the voice of whole Nepal.”