A delegation of Forum for Development and Protection of Media Community (FDPMC) that won majority of office bearers posts in Agartala Press Club elections met Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath in a courtesy visit at Civil Secretariat in Agartala on Thursday.
Convener of FDPMC Sebak Bhattacharjee and secretary-elect of the Agartala Press Club Pranab Sarkar led the delegation. Prior to the Agartala Press club poll, FDPMC announced a 19-point promise lists and many the promises require Government’s active help and co-operation for proper implementation.
Notably, in a closely contested electoral battle held on November 8, 2020, veteran editor Subal Kumar Dey of ‘Save Agartala Press Club’ panel scrapped through beating FDPMC supported Independent candidate, veteran journalist Jayanta Bhattacharjee with a thin margin in the biennial poll. Dey was also held the post of the president of outgoing Managing Committee. Another veteran editor Arun Nath of ‘Save Agartala Press Club’ registered an easy win for the post of vice president.
Pranab Sarkar of FDPMC emerged victorious for the post of secretary with a noticeable margin. Sarkar also held the same post in the outgoing Committee. Both Assistant General Secretary posts went to FDPMC and FDPMC supported independent candidates. Tapan Majumder of the FDPMC won in treasurer post. In total, six seats out of the total 11 seats went to FDPMC giving the Forum thin majority over the ‘Save Agartala Press Club’.
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The leaders apprised the Chief Minister over the slew of promises it had made during the Press Club elections and sought active cooperation from the government for effective implementation of the pre-poll promises.
The issue of health insurance coverage for all the media persons working in field came up as the major point of discussion. Apart from that, quarters for the media persons and matters related advertisement policy also came up for discussion.
In a press statement, convener of FDPMC, Sebak Bhattacharjee said, “We discussed three most crucial promises out of the total 19-point promises made by us prior to the club elections. Health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh for every working media persons, proper advertisement policies for electronic channels and housing facilities for home-less media persons”.
The Chief Minister assured the media delegation that he would look into the matters raised by them. Deb was reported to have said that some of the demands like residence for the journalists and also the advertisement policy were already in the pipeline. The Forum expressed satisfaction at the response from the Chief Minister and Education minister.
