The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Yeddyurappa promises scheme for journalists

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Wednesday, Jul 02, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Yeddyurappa promises scheme for journalists

Special Correspondent

‘Media was like a bridge between Government and people’
KUWJ wants at least Rs. 4,000 honorarium for journalists

BANGALORE: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Tuesday assured the journalists, especially those working in moffusil areas that he was going to announce some schemes for their welfare in the State Budget.

Inaugurating the Patrika Day organised by the Karnataka Union of Working Journalists here, the Chief Minister said the previous Government had sanctioned Rs. 50 lakh for the welfare of the community and the money had been deposited with the Department of Information.

Till now, the department had spent Rs. 10 lakh on journalists, he said.

Referring to the memorandum presented by the union general secretary H.S. Sudheendra Kumar, the Chief Minister said he knew that journalists needed honorarium, health facility, concession in State public transport buses and residential sites and houses.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said he was aware of the long pending demand of the union for a site in the city to build a “Patrika Bhavan” had not been fulfilled.

The Government, long ago, had assured the union that the land in front of the KUWJ office would be sanctioned to it. The Chief Minister said the media was working like a bridge between the people and the Government and was cautioning the latter whenever it erred.

Mr. Kumar urged the Government to directly release advertisements to newspapers and not through advertisement agencies, because the former were losing 15 per cent in terms of commission.

The journalists should be paid at least Rs. 4,000 honorarium as was being done by the Kerala Government, he said.

The union president, Gangadhara Mudaliar, welcomed the gathering.

S.V. Jayasheela Rao and N. Arjuna Deva, senior journalists, R.P. Jagadisha, Media Advisor to the Chief Minister, and Mahesh Joshi, senior director of Bangalore Doordarshan, were present.

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