KARACHI, JUL 28 /DNA/ – The Secretary Information, Government of Sindh, Kashif Gulzar Shaikh, has assured the APNS Sindh Committee that the payment of outstanding dues of newspapers for the year 2021 will be released at the earliest. He also assured the Committee of a fair and equitable distribution of provincial government advertisements and agreed that the data regarding the distribution of advertisements should be uploaded on the official website on a daily basis.
A meeting of the APNS Sindh Committee was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Javed Mehr Shamsi, Chairman of the Sindh Committee. The Provincial Secretary Information attended the meeting as a special guest. APNS President, Senator Sarmad Ali, Secretary General Mr. Muhammad Athar Kazi, and the members of the Committee apprised the Secretary Information of the issues being faced by newspapers in Sindh. They stated that newspapers in the province were facing severe financial difficulties due to the non-payment of outstanding dues and urged the Government of Sindh to ensure the early clearance of all pending payments. The members also requested the issuance of display advertisements and urged that Sindhi-language newspapers be given priority in the release of Government of Sindh advertisements.
The members expressed serious concern that the quantum of advertisements being released by the Sindh Information Department to newspapers and periodicals had declined to the lowest level, contrary to the agreed allocation, and that APNS member publications were receiving only a limited number of advertisements. The meeting demanded that the quantum of advertisements allocated to the print media be increased so that newspapers could continue their publication without financial hardship.
The Committee members further demanded that the previous system for the payment of non-budgeted advertisements be restored and that, as in the past, payments for such advertisements be made by the Sindh Information Department on a monthly basis.
Mr. Kashif Gulzar Shaikh assured the meeting that the Government of Sindh fully recognizes the importance of the print media and is well aware of the problems confronting the newspaper industry. He stated that immediate measures were being taken to resolve these issues.
The meeting was attended by the following members:
Mr. Javed Mehr Shamsi, Chairman, Sindh Committee; Mr. Younis Mehr, Vice Chairman (Daily Halchal); Mr. Shahab Zuberi (Business Recorder); Mr. Kazi Mustafa Asad Abid (Daily Ibrat); Mr. Junaid Akram (Daily Dawn); Mr. Bilal Farooqi (Daily Aghaz); Dr. Jabbar Khattak (Daily Awami Awaz); Mr. Rafiq Ahmed Pirzada (Daily Pak Sindh); Mr. Najamuddin Shaikh (Daily Deyanat); Ms. Zahida Abbasi (Daily Nau Sijj); Mr. Kazi Sajjad Akbar (Daily The Regional Times); Mr. Mangal Das Arwani (Daily Hilal-e-Pakistan), Mr. Imtiaz Akhtar Qazi (Daily Tameer-e- Sindh), Mr. Mumtaz Ali Phulpoto (Daily Awami Parchar); Mr. Iqbal Hussain Tunio (Daily Jang); Ms. Haseena Jatoi (Daily Moomal); Mr. Muhammad Irfan (Daily Ummat); and Mr. Shahid Satti (Daily Vatan Gujrati).
