Sindh Minister for Information & Archives and Labour Saeed Ghani Thursday said the performance of Regional Directorates of the Information Department was not up to the mark when it came to highlighting the soft image or the performance of the Sindh government in interior parts of the province.
The Minister presiding over a meeting of all the Regional Directors and District Information Officers of the Sindh Information & Archives Department at his office said that although the provincial government had completed a lot of essential development projects in interior of Sindh in the recent past but they had not been highlighted either in the print media or the electronic media befittingly, according to a statement.
Secretary Information Imran Atta Soomro, Director General Public Relations Sindh Mansoor Ahmed Sheikh and others were also present during the meeting. Secretary Information Imran Atta Soomro comprehensively briefed the Minister about the structure, functioning and performance of every Regional Directorate and DIOs of the Information Department.
Saeed Ghani said it was the responsibility of the Information Department to disseminate information for the awareness of the general public about the development initiatives taken by the government. Being the main publicity arm of the government the focus of the Information Department should be on the projection of government policies and its development activities through print, electronic and social media along with maintenance of close inter-personal liaison with the media.
The Minister specifically pointed out that the general public be timely made aware about the fact that during recent rains it was the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) and not the government functionaries responsible for the delayed drainage of rainwater from various rain affected areas of Hyderabad.
He said that Information Department mirrored the government activities therefore its officers should be more active and efficient towards their responsibilities.
He said the officers of the department must keep a close eye on the content of the print and electronic media. Whenever they observed that something derogatory had been published or broadcasted against any of the Sindh government functionaries then immediately they should contact to that department for rebuttal, he said.
Saeed Ghani said it was also one of essential responsibilities of the Information Department to ensure the ample coverage of that rebuttal so that the verity of the issue or situation could reach to masses on time.
Following what he said in his last meeting, the Minister once again asked officers to adopt professionalism and modern techniques of the journalism. He directed all the regional directors to maintain close contacts, cooperate and facilitate their respective press clubs and other journalists.
The Regional Directors and DIOs informed the Minister about the difficulties they were facing at their respective regional offices regarding the infrastructure and lack of other necessities.
The minister while taking notice of the predicaments being faced by the Regional Directors and DIOs ensured them that a few of their problems like provision of furniture and stationary would be resolved immediately while all their other difficulties would also be addressed soon. He also directed them to submit their Annual Confidential Reports to the Secretary Office.
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