A delegation of the State’s working journalists on Wednesday met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and discussed the problems faced by the fraternity and was assured by the CM that the Government will look into these issues on a priority basis.
After the meeting, IPR Minister Arun Sahoo said, “The Government will form a committee to look into the demands of the journalists.” Earlier, the journalists decided to go for an indefinite stir demanding fulfillment of their 7-point charter of demands. The scribes would stage a silent protest before the Assembly on the first day of the Winter Session on Thursday.
The journalists belonging to different newspapers, news channels, photo and video journalists, mostly covering the Government and the Assembly, took this decision at an urgent meeting held at here on Wednesday. “The Government has been sitting over the demands of journalists for a long time. We will continue the stir till fulfillment of our demands,” said journalist Birupakshya Tripathy adding that the scribes were forced to go for agitation as the Government simply ignored their “genuine and just” demands.
While the Government claims to have devised schemes for people from mother’s womb till graveyard, it preferred to ignore the journalists who work day in and day out to serve the society. The agitating journalists pointed out though they have approached different quarters , no action has been taken to redress the grievances of the fraternity. Besides Central Government, the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, Tripura and Chhattisgarh have announced a host of welfare programmes for journalists, while the Odisha Government stopped certain facilities being provided.