Editors to be invited to Standing Committee meeting

PESHAWAR: Chairperson of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Standing Committee on Information & Public Relations, Samar Haroon Bilour has directed the authorities concerned to invite newspapers' editors to the next meeting of the committee so that they could also observe efforts being made to bring about transparency in the affairs of the department.

She said this while chairing a meeting of the Standing Committee on Information and Public Relations at KP Assembly on Tuesday, said a handout. MPA Liaqat Ali Khan, MPA Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, Secretary Information Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, Director General Information Imdadullah, Deputy Secretary Assembly Secretariat Naeem Durrani and others were also present on the occasion. The Secretary Information briefed the meeting about activities of the department and responsibilities of public information officers. He said the issue of releasing advertisements to the media was being handled with utmost transparency. He added that anyone could see it online. Earlier, he said one official at the department used to give advertisements to the media according to likes and dislikes. “Now a committee, headed by a grade 19 officer, is undertaking the task on merit,” he said.

Chairperson of the Standing Committee Samar Haroon Bilour said that newspaper workers often faced problems with regard to payment of their salaries. “The release of government advertisements should be linked to payment of their salaries so that they could be helped,” she argued.