KCR indifferent to media for exposing TRS govt's failures: TDP

There is a lot of hue and cry over the 24 hour decision of the KCR government to ban the entry of scribes into the C block housing his chambers on the sixth floor. On that day scribes were hounded out of every room , CPRO, Fourth Floor of CS, and also some in GAD section by a group of home guards who went around room by room to identify and throw the scribes out.

Though the KCR government has withdrawn the ban and is allowing the reporters as usual into the C block, the damage is done and the threat keeps hanging that KCR might do the same act again at his whims and fancy or a decision of the Government itself.

A delegation of journalists from the print and electronic media met state government’s adviser on cultural affairs KV Ramana Chary and submitted a memorandum demanding that the media continue to have a free access to the Secretariat.

Taking a cue from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, theTelangana Rashtra Samithi government had decided to ban the entry of journalists into the Secretariat building housing the offices of the Chief Minister and other key ministers.

The Chief Minister’s office has reasoned out that the decision to restrict entry into the secretariat has been taken following complaints by several ministers and the bureaucrats that the swarming of journalists in their offices was hindering their functioning.

Sources say that the state intelligence agencies had also raised objections over the presence of a large number of media persons ( 215 persons to be specific including reporters, cameramen, videographers and their assistants) and their free movement in the offices of the Chief Minister on 6th floor and other offices.

But the fact remains that the secretariat has been a resting and hang out for the media irrespective of their beat. Many scribes of small newspapers use it as a avenue to further prospects of advertisements and liasoning. Not just reporters, even Ad representatives of the newspapers also come visiting secretariat on a regular basis. 'We can not send away any one as they make big public spectacle if stopped,"say the security officers at both AP and Telangana gates.

The bureaucrats of I & PR and the Home ministry are perplexed over the developments since Monday .The I & PR commissioner denies that he had ever issued such order for removal of scribes from the C block.Then on whose directions did the police act now remains a mystery . But the incident has given another excuse to the Andhra Governmemt and TDP to lambast the TRS and KCR over one more issue.

The Telangana government’s move has evoked widespread criticism from the journalist community and opposition parties. It is said that the ministers and senior officials were particularly annoyed with the aggressive behavior of the scribes from some of the local television channels.

Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and Telangana Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) termed this move as an affront on Press freedom. The Telangana English Journalists Association mooted a monitoring body to ensure that only reporters representing mainline publications, TV channels and social media networks be allowed free access on production of identity cards.

Terming the T government’s move as nothing short of gagging the press, opposition Congress, Telugu Desam Party and BJP reacted strongly. “The Chief Minister is behaving like a dictator and is trying to suppress the freedom of the media,” state Congress president P Lakshmaiah said. The BJP suggested that the government could fix the number of journalists to be permitted entry from each publication or TV channel.The TDP accused the Telengana government of being intolerant towards the media for exposing its failures.

Announcing a slew of welfare measures for the scribes including three bed roomed flat for all accredited correspondents, speaking at the Press Academy next day ( Tuesday ) chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao tried to assuage the media and also justify his move. “We have to find a way to regulate entry of journalists to the Secretariat to end the anarchy prevailing now,” he said.