ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday expressed concern over the non-payment of salaries and retrenchment by certain media houses without prior notice.

The committed has directed Pemra and the Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees (ITNE) to ensure payment of salaries of electronic and print media workers and discharge of contractual obligations by their employers.

The committee chairman, Pullain Baloch, also announced that a subcommittee needed to be established in this regard under the convenership of Syed Aminul Haque, to discuss and suggest current state of payment of salaries and outstanding dues and to suggest measures for ensuring rights of media workers.

The committee, while discussing issues related to payment of salaries to media workers, opined that the committee would not spare any effort to ensure payment of salaries and clearance of their outstanding dues.

Commending the efforts of Pemra and ITNE for pursuing clearance of salaries, the committee further suggested for bringing stringent regulations in the relevant acts of parliament for upholding the rights of media workers.

The committee was apprised by the chairman and director general (Operations) Pemra about the working and performance of the authority and informed that Pemra under the act had been mandated to facilitate and regulate electronic media.

The director general said Pemra, through amendment to the Act of Parliament, 2023, was entrusted with the task of ensuring timely payment of salaries to electronic media workers.

He further said relevant clauses of the act were also amended to strengthen the regulatory mechanism of the authority and informed about the pending and disposal of complaints in the Council of Complaints.

The committee suggested formulation of Code of Conduct for airing dramas and advertisements on TV channels that conformed to social and religious norms.

The committee also directed Pemra to strengthen its regulatory mechanism, especially in small towns and rural areas, to check the distribution of content permitted by the authority on cable networks.

The committee sought details of salary packages of all anchors and panelists hired and on the payroll of PTV. The committee also asked the ministry to issue appropriate directions to PTV for preparing initial proposal for a dedicated educational channel.

Expressing concern over the financial state of Shalimar Recording and Broadcasting Company (SRBC), the committee was of the view that the company was in perpetual loss since many years, resulting in non-payment of salaries/outstanding liabilities including salaries, pensions and EOBI subscription.

The committee directed the information ministry to ensure payment of salaries to the employees of SRBC. It also suggested that either the company be merged with PTV or privatised and issued directives to the PTV management to provide a comprehensive briefing in this regard in the next meeting.

The meeting was attended by Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Daniyal Chaudhry, and Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, Saad Waseem, Kiran Imran Dar, Asia Naz Tanoli, Sehar Kamran, Syed Aminul Haque, Mohammad Moazzam Ali Khan and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024