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| Dozens of newspapers owned by relatives of Info Deptt employees | | Beyond mere coincidence! | | Majid Ahmad
srinagar, Mar 5: Dozens of newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir which get advertisements from the Directorate of Information are directly or indirectly owned by the relatives and friends of the employees of the Information Department. Sources told Early Time Plus that the Department issues advertisements to these newspapers without taking their circulation into account. "There is no system in the Information Department for fair distribution of advertisements to newspapers. Some of the senior employees in the Department who have not been transferred since years are calling the shots. They have either registered newspapers in the names of their relatives or friends and issue advertisements worth lakhs of rupees to these papers every year," they claimed.
A senior official of the Department wishing anonymity said that there is no proper policy on the distribution of advertisements. "One who pay cuts are being given hefty advertisements. It is high time that Chief Minister takes cognizance of the mess in the Department and atleast orders the transfer of those officials who are posted at one place for years together," he said.
The official claimed that some senior officers of the Information Department, Prasar Bharati and some retired bureaucrats have also registered newspapers in the names of their relatives and are getting lions share from the Government advertisements. "Most of the newspapers which are being issued advertisements by the Department are not visible in the market. They publish a few copies and send those to Information Department for attendance and get ads worth millions. This practice is hampering the growth of real journalism in the State," he added.
A senior journalist while commenting over the issue said, "Everywhere in the country the job of Information Department is to be bridge between the Government and the journalists. But unfortunately in our State officials of Information Department are busy in minting money. Journalists who are working with reputed organisations in and outside the State are being ignored while those who are part of the nexus are being promoted by the Information Department," he claimed. Quoting an example he said that dozens of fake journalists have been given accreditation by the Department. "There should be a proper mechanism for awarding accreditations to the journalists. Professional journalist are being ignored by the Department while those who publish 10 copy newspapers are being awarded," he added. |
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