A delegation of Jammu Newspaper Editors Association (JNEA) an amalgam of newspapers published from Jammu today met Principal Secretary to Chief Minister B B Vyas and Special Secretary to Chief Minister Zaffar Ahmed.

Led by JNEA’s president S Ravinder Singh, the members of the delegation appraised the Principal Secretary and Special Secretary about the pending liabilities worth Rs 9.50 crores for the year 2011-12 and urged upon them to take immediate steps to clear the pending liabilities.

They mentioned that the Department of Information and Public Relations, J&K Govt had already submitted detailed report on pending liabilities worth Rs 9.50 crores to the government so that funds could be released for the same.

They apprised them that almost 10 months have been passed when no funds have been released from the Govt side to clear the pending liabilities.

On the occasion, JNEA members also discussed with B B Vyas and Zaffar Ahmed the existing advertisement policy of the Information Department meant especially to release government advertisements with a sole objective to provide information to the people and financial assistance to the newspapers. They demanded that the existing advertisement policy of the department be reviewed forthwith.

Both Principal Secretary and Special Secretary gave patient hearing to the members of the Jammu Newspapers Editors Association (JNEA). B B Vyas on the occasion informed the members of the association that Govt has released an amount of Rs 3 crore today to clear the pending liabilities. He assured the members of the association that the remaining liabilities of Govt advertisements published in the newspapers would also be released soon. As far as the issue of advertisement policy is concerned, Vyas said that the he would discuss this issue with concerned quarters in administrative high ups.

The delegation comprised of S Ravinder Singh, Banarsi Dutt Sharma, Adarsh Pal Gupta, Satish Mahajan, Vinod Kumar, Prem Sharma, Subash Mehra, Ritish Kapoor, Rajesh Bali, Dr Roop Lal Sharma and others.