The government has its own reasons to restrict media in the CM’s block
_0.jpg "No written order for bar on media")
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao
Hyderabad: The TS government had previously clarified that it had only discussed the proposal to bar the entry of media in the Secretariat and no decision had been taken in this regard. It had even stated that it had no plans to impose curbs on the media in the Secretariat. Surprisingly, the government took a U-turn on the issue a day after clarification.
Journalists confronted police personnel when they were asked to leave the C Block at around 2.30 pm. They asked the cops to show the copy of the government order banning the entry of media into C-Block. The cops replied that they had only received “oral instructions” from the Information and PR department and had no “written orders”.
TS Press Academy chairman Allam Narayana, who met the CM to discuss journalists’ issues like providing accreditation cards, health cards etc., said the government’s decision on restricting media should not be seen as a “ban” but only as “reasonable restrictions” to enable smooth functioning of the CMO besides addressing security concerns.
“The government has its own reasons to restrict media in the CM’s block. It should not be viewed as a ban on media but only as reasonable restrictions. The CM himself has told me that the government has no plans to ban the entry of media in the Secretariat.
Journalists can freely enter the Secretariat as usual and wait at the media lounge in front of the CMO or the Publicity Cell. However, to visit blocks other than the CMO’s, they need to seek the appointment of ministers and officials concerned,” Mr Narayana said, while addressing a press conference.
He added, “The government is not against the media. In fact, it is highly concerned about the media and welfare of journalists. For this reason, the CM has decided to provide a corpus of Rs 100 crore to the TS Press Academy, to be utilised for the welfare of journalists. Journalists meanwhile had heated arguments with Mr Narayana asking him whether this was the “free Telangana”.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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