Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 7: The `House of Elders’ today witnessed bizarre situation when all the Members not only from Opposition NC and Congress, but also from ruling PDP and BJP staged walk out, to mark their protest against non-coverage of Legislative Council proceedings especially by official media.
As the Upper House commenced its proceedings for the day in the morning with the arrival of Chairman Haji Anayat Ali, the Opposition members led by Sajjad Kichloo and Ghulam Nabi Monga besides Rani Gargi Billoria stood up and lodged their protest with the Chairman that despite directions to the media from the ‘Chair’ on two occasions, the Council business was not being covered properly by the media. They alleged that their House was not being taken seriously by media organizations and strict directions should go to them.
The Chairman clarified that he has already directed to the concerned for the same and he would convey it strongly again. He asked the Members to take their seats and allow conduct of Question Hour.
Upon this, the BJP and PDP members including Vibodh Gupta, Surinder Choudhary, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Ramesh Arora, Vikram Randhawa, Surinder Ambardar, Sofi Yousuf, Ashok Khajuria and others also stood up and joined them raising similar allegations that Media was ignoring the Upper House proceedings and no proper coverage was being given to the proceedings in the House by these organizations. They specially referred to the official media including Doordarshan and Radio. Then all of them staged walk out.
As all the members moved out and the House was left with hardly half a dozen Ministers, the Chairman adjourned the House for five minutes at 11.04 am.
Later, Leader of the House Naeem Akhtar, Chairman, Secretary Legislative Council and the agitating members had meeting where Director Information and some heads of official media were also summoned. After meeting and assurance from them, the matter was resolved and the House resumed its business at around 11.37 am with the Question Hour.
Later, a Congress Member clarified that their anger and protest was against official media and especially Doordarshan. He said they were covering detailed coverage of the Lower House but they have taken Upper House for granted. He said they had no problem from the local newspapers as they were already giving extensive coverage to them.
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