The Largest Representative Body

The Largest Representative Body

Press Note:

Hydera bad/Chandigarh, February 28: Indian Journalists Union (IJU), the largest representative trade union body of journalists in the country has appealed to the Central Government to treat journalist s as frontline warriors in the fight against corona virus and enable the!ll to get vaccine on priority basis. In a statement issued on Sunday IJU President and Secretary General

K . Sreenivas Reddy and Balwinder Singh Jammu welcomed the decision of the Government to provide vaccine to people free of cost at all Government hospitals and pegging cost of vaccine in private hospitals at as l ittle as Rs. 250 a dose.

Drawing the Government’s notice to the fact that hundreds of journalists in the line of duty across the country had succumbed to the dreaded virus, the IJU leaders has said without the contribution of Journal ists in t he field the fight against the pandemic would not have succeeded the way it did in India.

Reporting from ground zero made journalists vulnerable like other frontline warriors and in view of the fact the fight has still a long way to go, it is the duty of the Government to provide the working journa lists with vaccine sh ield. The !JU leaders urged the Central Government to issue suitable instructions to governments of all the states and union territories to give priority j ab tO journalists.

The announcemen t of the Centre last year through PTB that fam i l ies of jou rnal ists who died due to Covid 19 would be given an assistance of Rs.5 lakhs under Journalist Welfare Scheme was a welcome step, the !JU leaders sa id. Bul the scheme largely went unnoticed for lack of adequate publ icity.

The leaders urged the Government to arrange proper publ i city to the scheme through Information departments of the states so thal eligible fami l ies of journali sts can avail the benefit. Issued for favour of publication /broad caste in you r news paper I news channel.