GUWAHATI, Sept 12 � The North East Newspaper Society has expressed serious concern over the apathy of the Assam Government towards the newspaper industry of the State.
The Society, at a meeting held here today, alleged that the State Government has been ignoring its repeated demands for raising the advertisement tariff.
In November last year, a delegation led by Society president Kanak Sen Deka, vice president Prafulla Govinda Baruah and general secretary GL Agarwalla met the Chief Minister and apprised him of the problems facing the newspaper industry of the State. It urged the Government to raise the advertisement tariff by 100 per cent. During the discussion, the Chief Minister assured the delegation that the advertisement tariff would be raised by 40 per cent and the amounts against the advertisement bills would also be released to the newspapers regularly on a monthly basis.
The Chief Minister�s press advisor Bharat Chandra Narah and Additional Chief Secretary Himangshu Shekhar Das were also present at the meeting.
However, contrary to the assurance of the Chief Minister, a meeting held on July 20 last under the presidentship of Information and Public Relations Minister Basanta Das arrived at a conclusion that the advertisement tariff would be raised only by two per cent.
The Society has strongly resented the decision and Society president Deka described the decision as an irresponsible one and asserted that this meagre hike would not be accepted.
Society general secretary Agarwala said that they would meet the Chief Minister again on the issue.