PESHAWAR: The chairperson of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Department, Samar Haroon Bilour, has directed various departments to link issuance of advertisements to newspapers to payment of salaries to their employees.

Ms Bilour issued the directive on Tuesday during a meeting she was presiding over, said an official statement.

She said since newspaper workers often faced problems with regard to payment of salaries by their employers, the issuance of advertisements to newspapers should be made conditional to payment of salaries to workers.

She also directed relevant authorities to invite newspapers’ editors to the next meeting of the committee so that they could themselves see efforts being made by the information department to ensure transparency in the affairs of the department.

The meeting was attended by MPAs Liaqat Ali Khan, Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, Information Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain and Information Director General Imdadullah.

Information Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain on this occasion briefed the meeting on activities of the department and responsibilities of officers of the information department.

He said the issue of release of advertisements to newspapers was being handled with utmost transparency and care and anyone could see it online.

He said that earlier one officer of the department used to give advertisements to newspapers according to his personal likes or dislikes whereas now a committee, headed by a Grade-19 officer, was undertaking the task purely on merit.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2020