By Our Staff Reporter
NEW TEHRI, 19 Sept: On Thursday, during a one-day district visit, Dr Nitin Upadhyay, Joint Director of the Information and Public Relations Department of Uttarakhand, inspected the District Information Office in Tehri Garhwal. He interacted with office staff, reviewed files, and provided necessary guidance.
Dr Upadhyay held discussions with the media at the District Information Center in New Tehri, emphasizing the media‘s crucial role in conveying various welfare schemes initiated by the government to the public. He highlighted recent decisions by the Uttarakhand government for journalist welfare, including increasing the Journalist Welfare Fund from ₹5 crore to ₹10 crore. He underlined the Chief Minister’s directives to streamline the assistance process for journalists’ families in case of sudden demise and the ongoing work on new journalist accreditation guidelines.
To enhance communication between the Information Department and district-level journalists, nodal officers are visiting various regions. During the visit, Dr Upadhyay informed journalists about the facilities available to them and the schemes in place for their benefit.
Press representatives raised several issues, including timely payment of medical reimbursements, transportation facilities for accredited journalists, creation of press galleries at VIP events, relaxation in press accreditation and pension rules, regular district-level press conferences, and timely advertisement payments. Dr Upadhyay assured that some concerns would be addressed immediately, while others would be escalated to higher authorities. He reiterated that the Information Department and media are complementary, reflecting a collaborative work style in Tehri.
Later, the Joint Director visited the New Tehri Press Club, where club officials honored him with a garland and shawl. A demand letter for journalist welfare was submitted by President Shashi Bhushan Bhatt and General Secretary Govind Pundir on behalf of all press representatives.
Present at the event were senior journalists including Devendra Dumoga, Govind Bisht, Anurag Uniyal, Vikram Bisht, Jayprakash Pandey, Mukesh Raturi, Subhash Rana, and others.
