Srinagar: Minister for Information, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali Tuesday inaugurated “Auditorium cum Conference Hall”, laid foundation of “Library cum Reading Room”, and unveiled “Exhibition of Rare Newspaper Archives and Photographs” at the Media Complex here.
The 220-seater Auditorium and 50-seater Conference Hall with video conferencing facility has been constructed by the R&B Department at an estimated cost of around Rs 4 crore.
Minister for Public Works Naeem Akhtar, Chairperson Women’s Development Corporation, Vijay Gandotra, Secretary Information M H Malik, Secretary FCS&CA Shafiq Ahmad Raina, Director Information Muneer-ul-Islam and Director FCS&CA Nissar Ahmad Wani besides other officers of Information Department were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Chowdhary Zulfkar said the commitment made by the late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed on 18 May 2015 to remodel the flood-hit Old PSC complex as an integrated Media Complex by the Department of Information has been fulfilled top a greater extent while much more needs to be still done. He said it was decided that besides housing the and Public Relations, a state-of-the-art Auditorium, Conference Hall, Library-cum-Reading Room, Audio-Visual Unit and a Cafeteria would be setup in the new Media Complex.
Zulfkar Ali said by inaugurating the state-of-the-art Auditorium, Conference Hall within two years after its announcement depicts the seriousness of the present government to fulfill its promises. Appreciating the Information Department and Department of Public Works for constructing the state-of-art facilities at the Media Complex, the Minister said the structure is an asset which would serve not only to Information department, but other departments could avail its services.
Giving details about other initiatives taken by the department, the Minister said there were many things in limbo for a long period, however, with the present CM Mehbooba Mufti’s intervention things have started moving fast. The Minister said the department is in the process of formulating a separate Advertisement Policy for the Electronic and the Digital Media and soon it would be made public. He further added that the department is also formulating a new mechanism for newspaper categorization, and accreditation of journalists. The Minister assured that the department does not have any special liking or disliking for anyone in particular when it comes to offering its various benefits.
Highlighting the importance of Information Department, the Minister said Government could be doing number of developmental works and implementing various welfare policies, however, the effectiveness of the same gets reduced if the people are not made aware of such works by the Information Department. It is here where information department plays a crucial role by acting as a bridge by connecting Government with people by disseminating the information related to Government works.
Appreciating the employees of the department, the Minister said the department is committed to provide timely information to media and other news agencies, and for this every employee in the department works tirelessly 24×7. The Minister assured the employees of the department that the Government is monitoring their efforts and would duly reward them through whatever way would be possible.
The Minister said the department has some issues, primarily professional human resource, which need to be tackled immediately. He informed that he has given instructions to the concerned officers to do the needful urgently in this regard.
While laying the foundation stone of Library-cum-Reading Room, the Minister expressed optimism that its construction would be completed at an earliest. “The pace at which Information Department renovated and recreated its infrastructure post September 2014 floods, I wouldn’t be surprised if the library-cum-reading room would be completed before its stipulated time,” the Minister said.
The Minister said he has also directed to ensure that all the data including newspapers, periodicals, books and other items of importance at Research and Reference wing of the department are digitized so that it could be preserved for the future generations. The Minister said it is a treasure that should be preserved at any cost as it would not only help scholars of State, but the treasure from here would quench the thirst of scholars from all over India and the world.
Reminiscing the past glory of the Information Department, Minister for Works Naeem Akhtar said whenever, he comes to information department he feels like he is returning to his home. He said his affiliation with Information Department goes back to 1972 when he started his career from here.
Taking a jibe at the department’s poor past of not having its own office building in the past, the Minister said although the department was the show window of Government’s works, yet it faced a bizarre challenge of not having its own building to work from. Naeem Akhtar said Mufti Sahib understood the essence of a central place for media and he ensured that the Information Department gets the present beautiful place to build its own infrastructure.
The Minister hoped that the media complex becomes the hub of cultural and intellectual activities of the State. He recalled although department in the past used to work from a few rooms, yet it acted as interacting point for top notch journalists from both within the State and the country.
The Minister suggested that the department should make a Hall of Fame for the leading journalists included Khawaja Sonaullah Bhat, Shamim Ahmad Shamim, Sadur-u-Din Mujahid, J N Sathu, R K Kak, Abdul Aziz, where their bio-data is also provided along with their picture so that the new age of journalists are made aware with the legends of past.
Naeem Akhtar also requested the budding journalist to give up their myopic vision about the history and stressed on the need to look through a wider angle. He said if the new lot of journalists will revisit their beautiful past they would find there is much more to State’s history than they think of.
Earlier, the Minister along with Naeem Akhtar also unveiled the exhibition of rare newspaper archives and photographs depicting various developmental works undertaken by the present Government in last three years. Besides, the archaic newspapers and periodicals belonging to an era of 1930s were also put on exhibition that made the visitors including the Ministers nostalgic about the glorious past of the State.
The Minister said the photo exhibitions aptly projects the essence of development that is visible on ground and reiterated the commitment of the government to reach out to the last man in the queue with good governance initiatives.
The Minister said the state has abundant talent and the need is to identify and nurture this hidden talent. He said the government shall put in all concerted efforts to provide a conducive environment and platform to promote the talent of the artists.
Choudhary Zulfkar along with Naeem Akhtar also launched an “Online Advertisement Portal” designed by Rationale Tabs. The Minister was briefed that creating the portal would help in establishing a “transparent system” where allocation of advertisement would be visible to general public.
Earlier, the Ministers were informed that the newly constructed “Cafeteria” would be also made functional soon while work on the Audio-Visual Unit is in the final stages of completion. He was assured that the structure would be ready and made functional by the end of this year.
Joint Director Information Headquarter, Abdul Majeed Zargar, Joint Director Kashmir Zahoor Ahmed Mir, Deputy Director Information, Kashmir Farooq Ahmed Baba along other senior officers and dignitaries from various walks of life attended the function. The program was conducted by Manmeet Singh.
