After one and a half years, MLA Haveli’s press club is nowhere to be found; civil administration believes in giving lollipops to the media fraternity

After one and a half years, MLA Haveli’s press club is nowhere to be found; civil administration believes in giving lollipops to the media fraternity

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: After winning the 2024 assembly elections with a thumping majority of votes, MLA Haveli Ajaz Jan organised a meeting for the media fraternity and promised the construction of a state-of-the-art new press club building in Poonch, but after the passing of more than one and a half years, not a single step has been taken in this regard. On the other hand, Poonch district administration over the years has also shown a blue moon to the media fraternity over the press club, but no action has yet been taken on the issue.

Former DC Ponch Vikas Kundal (IAS) assured the media that he would lay the foundation stone of the press club building in the media complex, but after his transfer nobody knows what has happened to his idea of a press club. It is seen that there are different self-styled media bodies, and in the absence of a properly elected body, it is difficult for the administration to take a step forward in this regard. On the other hand, shrewd officers of the police and administration never want unity of media individuals; that’s why they believe in keeping media individuals in good humour, fully knowing the credibility of each and every media person. They are always seen giving lollipops to some media individuals who, in fact, work as agents/touts for the administration, police and army installations. The administration is fully aware that more than 90% of media personnel are yes-men and pose no threat to it regarding the exposure of administrative misdeeds. So, it’s the silent strategy of the administration to divide various groups of media to fulfil its well-known hidden interests of various kinds through various schemes. A senior officer of the administration, during a discussion with a fellow officer, admitted that the administration knows most media persons are not professionals, which is why it hesitates to proceed with constructing a full-fledged press club for the media fraternity. However, MLA Haveli Ajaz Jan, who gave a famous political slogan of “one block, five roads and five blocks, twenty-five roads”, has completely ignored the issue of press fraternity, for reasons best-known to him. Despite its shortcomings, Poonch media has played a significant role nationally, yet MLA Haveli and the district administration have failed to address the genuine concerns of media persons. As a result, without an elected body of media persons, some media persons have formed different associations and become agents of civil administration, political parties and police, while some are running their bread and butter from army installations, and are not concerned about laying a strong foundation for journalism in the border district of Poonch. It’s time for the MLA Haveli Ajaz Jan and DC Poonch Ashok Sharma to plan something big as far as the construction of the Press Club building on the premises of Media Complex Poonch or at any suitable place in the city to strengthen journalism in the border district.