Early Times Report
Jammu, June 25: Department of Information and Public Relations in Jammu and Kashmir, which is supposed to be custodian of working journalists in the State, is accused of biased approach towards scribes working in Jammu region. Despite the repeated announcements regarding various welfare measures for the working journalists made by the successive State Governments, the Department of Information has been working to sabotage rather than facilitate such initiatives.
No progress on establishment of `housing facility to the media persons, both at Jammu and Srinagar notwithstanding provisioning of Rs 85 crores in the 14th Finance Commission, is a glaring example of the treacherous role being played by the J&K Department of Information vis-à-vis working journalists here. For establishment of the housing colonies, two separate committees headed by the respective Divisional Commissioner were constituted vide Government order number 942-GAD of 2013, dated 17-03-2013 for identification of land.
The Board of Director of Jammu Development Authority, in its 72nd meeting, decided to offer 40 kanals of land at Udheyawala-Bohri-Gajansoo Road and this was formally conveyed to the Divisional Commission Jammu, who further informed about the same to the Department of Information, which was nodal agency for establishment of housing colony for the journalists.
However, even after more than two years since the identification of land, there has been no further progress on the housing colony by the Information Department despite repeated reminders for the same by various media organizations in Jammu. According to the official sources, the Department of Information has deliberately held up the project despite no hurdles because the land for housing Colony in Srinagar could not be identified. The piece of land identified by the Committee headed by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir at Narrkar -Budgam has turned out to be a flood prone area and
hence the proposal could not materialize, sources added. As no fresh identification of land could be made for Kashmir, the officers at the helm of affairs in the Department of Information, J&K, also stalled the housing colony project at Udhayawala-Bohri for no reasons thus displaying their biased approach towards scribes of Jammu region. |
