Srinagar: Reiterating the demand for incentives to media houses, Jammu and Kashmir Press Association (JKPA) express disappointment over the lackadaisical and non responsive attitude of the government so far.
A spokesman of the JKPA said executive members of the association held an emergency meeting on
Saturday chaired by Ghulam Hassan Kaloo to express disappointment over the non responsive attitude of the government towards the demand for incentive to media houses.
We have written a number of letters and also presented memorandum of demands to Lt Governor of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 and again in 2021 without getting any favourable response so far, the meeting said.
A statement issued here this afternoon said that it has been made amply clear that Media Houses have been working under strained circumstances since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic like Healthcare Worriors and Law-enforcing Agencies and braving onslaughts with no sign of fatigue. They have been acting as a strong bridge between the government and general public and suggesting measures to lessen the adverse effects of the Pandemic. Even some Journalists fell victims to the disease and lost precious lives. The role of Media like Co-Worriors was acknowledged by the Central Government and exempted it from the Lockdowns since its promulgation last year.
The meeting said that Media Houses have been undergoing tremendous financial losses as highlighted by the Indian Newspapers Society in detail. It has projected overall picture of newspapers published in India and the adverse effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on all Media Houses. Here in J&K, the Status of the Media Houses is still worse due to geographical conditions and have been countenancing umpteen hardships in one form or the other.
The State Government has been announcing incentives for Co-Worriors but ignoring Media houses to the bewilderment of keen Watchers of the prevailing scenario. Therefore, the government should come out with Financial package like Madhya Pradesh and other States of India for the Media Houses in the UT J&K without any further procrastination.
