ITANAGAR, Feb 21: The state government has assured to implement the new IPR policy “in toto,” with effect from March this year.
With the policy in place, the department of information & public relations (DIPR) has been entrusted with the responsibility to regulate and clear all advertisement bills.
The decision is of huge significance as earlier the DIPR only looked after the payment concerns of state government-sponsored schemes, which resulted in a huge backlog of outstanding payments involving centrally-sponsored schemes – an issue which has been a long pressing concern for the state’s media houses.
The development comes following a fruitful meeting between the Arunachal Publishers & Broadcasters Guild (AP&BG), IPR Secretary Himanshu Gupta, IPR Director Obang Tayeng, and senior officers of the DIPR at the civil secretariat here on Friday.
It was also decided that Rs 5 crore will be released prior to 10 March against the outstanding payables to the media houses and the remaining amount will be released in April.
Further, the Arunachal Pradesh Electronic Media Advertisement (APEMA) policy has also been forwarded for cabinet approval.
“I request the cabinet to clear the APEMA policy during its ensuing sitting to pave the way for a vibrant media in the state,” said AP&BG president Chopa Cheda.
The guild has called for strict adherence to the roster system and equitable distribution of advertisements to all media houses. It also requested the departments to stop earmarking advertisements to specific newspapers and leave the distribution at the discretion of the DIPR.
Another important issue raised was the arbitrary rates fixed by certain departments which contradict the rate card already fixed by the DIPR.
“The DIPR has already fixed the rates of advertisement for each media house. However, there have been several occasions when few departments have published their advertisements at rates much lower than the fixed rates. This is disruptive and shouldn’t be encouraged,” said Cheda.
AP&BG general secretary Mibom Dai, publicity secretary Kenter Joya Riba, vice-president JT Tagam, and Arunachal Front editor Nani Kojin also attended Friday’s meeting.
