PESHAWAR, May 17: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will take strict action against those departments which do not pay dues of advertisements to the newspapers despite having the required funds for the purpose.

This was announced by the provincial Minister for Information and Public Relations Mian Iftikhar Hussain, while talking to a delegation of All Pakistan Newspapers Society here on Thursday.

While defending the advertisement policy of the provincial government, the minister said the procedure being practiced currently was crystal clear, unambiguous and was based on merit. He added that no personal likes and dislikes or connections were considered.

The APNS delegation comprised senior vice-president Mehtab Ahmad and general secretary Masood Hamid. Secretary Information Azmat Hanif Orakzai, additional secretary Faridullah Khan, director information Shoabuddin, senior journalist Pir Sufaid Shah and other noted journalists of Peshawar were also present on this occasion.

The minister said that his government fully realised the difficulties of the newspapers owners due to which the provincial government had adopted a very strict policy for recovery of their outstanding dues.

The matter, he maintained was also raised on the floor of the house and the speaker had given a ruling to this effect. He said that the government released funds for advertisements to all the government departments, however, certain organisations observed negligence and as a result, funds allocated for this purpose got lapsed.

He said that during the last four years, newspapers had been paid Rs510 million in the advertisements head.

Referring to the demand of APNS for increase of advertisement rates, the minister said the matter was already under consideration and the newspaper owners would soon hear good news to this effect.

He said that it was the desire of the government that the newspapers flourished, however, the owners should also take care of their workers. He added that no unwilling worker could be a good worker hence the newspaper owners should try to keep their workers satisfied so that the newspapers industry could also make progress.

The minister also highlighted the steps taken by the government for welfare of the journalists.