New Delhi: Breaking the decades long tradition of free movement of journalists in North Block, the Centre has cracked down on free movement of journalists in the Union home ministry and issued a gag order on bureaucrats restraining them from sharing information with journalists.
The Union home ministry on Thursday passed an order on the instructions of Union home secretary L.C. Goyal curtailing the movement, interaction and access of the media. The move has come under sharp criticism as it seeks to gag the media saying that mediapersons will be instructed “not to have briefings and meetings with officers” of the ministry.
Incidentally, during the Vajpayee regime, journalists had free access not only to all bureaucrats dealing with various sensitive divisions like J&K, Centre-state, Northeast but right upto the home ministers’ and home secretary’s office, a tradition continued during the UPA regime.
The knee-jerk reaction of the MHA, after the oil ministry leak scandal months back, was sharply protested by the journalists on Thursday who said they will continue protesting till the order is withdrawn immediately.
