KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Senior Congress politician and former Union minister, Prof Saifuddin Soz Thursday demanded establishment of Press Club in Srinagar.
“The absence of Press-Club at Srinagar has created a difficulty not only for the general run of the Journalists, but also for political and social activists for communication of ideas. This facility has been provided by the respective State Governments in all cities and bigger townships, through-out India and, perhaps, Srinagar (Kashmir) is the only place in India where there is no Press-Club,” he said in a statement this afternoon.
“The availability of this facility in Jammu is a great relief to all political leaders and social activists, who want to interact with the press and I benefited from that facility, a number of times,” he added.
“As for Srinagar, I have been hearing for the last two decades that this facility would be provided by the State Government but it never materialized. The press people have been raising this question with the respective Governments but nothing has been done so far. Some money was also collected (reportedly) by the Media persons but that money also must be lying idle,” he said.
Prof Soz further said, “recently, I experienced a difficulty for myself as I wanted to hold a Press Conference and it became a difficulty to invite media persons, as I reside at a considerable distance from the Press Colony and the usual traffic jam held many journalists back and my communication of a particular idea was rendered nearly impossible.” “I strongly urge the government to provide funds for construction of a Press-Club at Srinagar at an appropriate place and, in the meantime, allot a house around the Press Colony to serve as Press-Club at Srinagar.”
“I fervently hope that such an action will be taken without any further loss of time,” he said.
