It seems that as the Uttarakhand assembly elections are coming near, the state government is trying to keep the journalists of the state in good humour.
The directorate of information and public relations have come in the active mode to ensure that the journalists are taken into confidence and their issues settled at the earliest.
At a meeting held at Haldwani with the journalists K.S. Chauhan, the Joint Director of the Information and Public Relations Department, stated that the government and the department are committed to resolving all issues faced by media workers, journalists. The department has taken the difficulties arising in accreditation renewal matters seriously. All issues regarding financial assistance to the families of deceased dependents have been resolved.
He said that if a journalist is unable to receive assistance from the Journalist Welfare Fund, efforts will be made to provide assistance from the Chief Minister’s Discretionary Fund.
For this, a proposal will have to be submitted through the District Information Officer as per the rules. It was in accordance with the instructions of the Chief Minister, that the Joint Director of Information and Public Relations Department, KS Chauhan, held a meeting with media personnel at Haldwani Media Center and understood their problems.
Chouhan said that the Chief Minister of the state, Pushkar Singh Dhami, gives top priority to the interests of the journalists of the state and is always ready for their interests. Media workers raised demands with Chauhan regarding medical facilities for journalists, accreditation of journalists, loan schemes for accredited journalists, immediate implementation of reservation system for accredited journalists in state guest houses etc. Many other issues were raised in this meeting including including reservation for children of journalists in higher education, resumption of earlier applicable railway reservation for accredited journalists, exemption to accredited journalists at toll plazas, inclusion of accredited journalists from every area of the district as members in the District Journalist Standing Committee. Chauhan assured that the problems that could be resolved at the Information Department level would be resolved soon and that correspondence would be made for resolving the problems at the level of other departments.
The meeting was conducted by District Information Officer Girija Shankar Joshi. Information Officer Ahmed Nadeem along with journalists from Haldwani, Ramnagar, Lalkuan and all the personnel of the Information Department were present in the meeting.
