Manipur: Media organisations threaten to boycott government, BJP, MPCC

Our Correspondent

Imphal, April 18 (EMN): Media organisations in Manipur have threatened to boycott news related to the Manipur government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Manipur Pradesh and the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) over non-clearance of advertisement bills.

A joint meeting of newspaper publishers, members of Editors Guild Manipur (EGM), Manipur Hill Journalists Union (MHJU) and All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) was held in this regard on April 15.

In the case of the two political parties, the bills pertain to election advertisement of the recently concluded 12th Manipur state assembly election. Bills running into lakhs of both the parties, mostly outsourced to external advertising agencies, remain unpaid even as the election process ended and a new government installed, a joint statement issued by AMWJU and EGM informed.

The meeting resolved to appeal to both the presidents of BJP Manipur Pradesh and MPCC to clear the bills by April 23 or face a boycott.

Informing that bills running into nearly INR 10 crore have been lying unpaid for several years in the case of Manipur government, the statement said the issue was raised by the media fraternity on November 27 last year through a memorandum to the then Information and Public Relations minister.

An assurance from the chief minister and strict instruction to his ministries led to suspension of any form of agitation and the media fraternity waited, it said, adding that a meeting with the chief secretary of Manipur also resulted in further assurance to clear all bills by March 31 this year.

However, nearly 5 months since the issue was raised, except for around 10% of pending bills, no further payment was done, the statement claimed.

Media houses, already reeling under the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and shrinking market, have been accommodative to the government’s problems, it said.

The joint meeting has now set 4 pm of April 23 as the deadline for clearance of the bills failing which, a meeting is being convened on the same day to discuss the method and details of the boycott, it added.

There are around 20 daily newspapers published in Imphal, 10 local vernaculars in different tribal dialects from four hill districts apart, 10 local TV channels and some online portals across the state.