The Senate Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage was informed on Thursday that pending dues of electronic and print media for advertisements broadcast/published during the tenure of the previous government have been reconciled and will be paid in tranches in consultation with Finance Division.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information & Broadcasting, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan told the meeting that Rs 1.9 billion of advertisements of the Ministry of Information during the present government have been paid, adding that there has been no pendency in this regard; however, backlog of advertisements given during the previous government are still pending.
The meeting was held here with Senator Faisal Javed in the chair. The committee appreciated the steps taken by the government and expressed hope that there will be a permanent solution to the issue along with a guarantee to salary payment and job security of journalists.
Dr Firdous said that the amount was huge and needed to be reconciled. The amount of advertisements of the previous government of Punjab has been reconciled at Rs 570 million and that of the previous federal government at Rs 1.1 billion. She said that the government is cognisant of the fact that the burden is coming to the employees who are not being paid and being laid off.
Senator Javed remarked that the issue needs to be seen holistically so that the real causes of delay in salary payments can be explored. The special assistant said that 85% of advertisement revenue in the country comes from the private sector and only 15% by the government sector and consequently the brunt of lack of payment by the government should not result in nonpayment of salaries.
The representatives of Parliamentary Reporters Association expressed hope that the employees will be given same importance as the media houses owners saying a permanent solution should emerge through framing some service rules and payments to employees before Eid-ul-Fitr. The reporters presented a nine-point 'Charter of Demand' pertaining to journalists' issues to the Standing Committee.
The committee members backed the demands and urged the government to pay all outstanding dues in Ramazan. Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said that half of the Ramazan has passed and it is an injustice and cruelty that in several media organisations, salaries of three to six months haven't yet been paid to the employees.
The committee directed that those private media employees who are in severe financial distress should be prioritised and the media houses should also be identified which are paying salaries and which are not and what their revenue positions are. As a long-term solution, the committee chairman proposed to work on a legislation to settle the service structure and job security for private media journalists.
The committee was told that Rs 439 million has been paid to the PTV pensioners as commutation after the committee's persistent directions since May last year. Out of the remaining Rs 1.9 billion, an amount of around Rs 600 million will be taken out of investments and will be paid to pensioners as early as the Board of Directors approves it. The committee was assured that the PTV administration will be at its best to pay Rs 600 million to pensioners by May 30.
Senator Javed after assuming charge as head of this committee pursued the matter which has made it a human rights issue from that of just an administrative negligence. The committee assured the pensioners that the issue will stay on the agenda until every single pensioner is provided relief and given his due rights.
The special assistant to prime minister on information & broadcasting told the meeting that there is a proposal to merge or limit functions of some departments which have done little work under the austerity measures of the government. In this regard, National Language Promotion Department, Urdu Science Board and Urdu Dictionary Board were recommended to be merged but the National History and Literary Heritage Division, considering the different locations, different work scope and concerns relating to employees, has opposed the proposal and hence the issue is not under the process.
While discussing the issue of promoting the Urdu language and its deteriorating standard, the chairman committee observed that there is a need to have institutes that promote and produce literature in Urdu and encourage people to study and use them. He also proposed producing a mobile phone application for providing learning opportunities digitally. The minister told the meeting that a dictionary application has already been introduced, to which the committee chairman recommended publicising it through media especially Pakistan Television (PTV).
The committee also discussed the steps taken by the government to preserve the national heritage in the country. The minister told the committee that not all of the heritage sites in the country are now with the federal government but it (federal government) is carrying out an overarching exercise to map all such places in the country belonging to all religions and civilisations, adding that soon an inventory will be produced providing information on all the sites. The committee expressed concern over the dilapidated conditions of many heritage sites and valuable antique artifacts being sold in open market.
Dr Firdous said that she has been in contact with all media workers' organisations for addressing their problems as per directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan. She said that the Prime Minister wants that salaries should be paid to the journalists at all costs.
The special assistant said that the federal government has to pay Rs 1.1 billion, while the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments have to pay Rs 570 million and Rs 100 million, respectively, outstanding dues in respect of advertisements in print and electronic media. Dr Firdous said that the government will pay all dues but it will be conditioned with the payment of salaries to the journalists.
The special assistant told the meeting that a process for appointment of MD PTV had been initiated before she assumed charge and the same has been carried forward and awaits approval of the Prime Minister. The committee observed that special care needs to be taken while making appointment of someone who can generate revenue and introduce reforms.
During a briefing on working and performance of Lok Virsa, the committee was told that the post of executive director has been lying vacant for the last one year while only 52 persons are currently employed against the sanctioned strength of 106 employees.
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