Pay dues or face ads suspension, APNS warns Sindh govt
KARACHI: The APNS has expressed its dismay over the consistent indifference of the Sindh government to clear dues of the APNS members despite various pledges and assurances by the high officials not less than chief minister and the information minister of Sindh.
According to an APNS press release, Syed Qaim Ali Shah Chief Minister of Sindh had assured the APNS delegation led by its President Hameed Haroon that the old outstanding dues of over Rs40 crores will be paid in 4 installments of Rs.10 crores each but despite various reminders and subsequent assurances, the payment has not yet been made.
The APNS Sindh Committee in the meeting noted that requests to chief minister, minister for information and the secretary information remained unattended and the issue has lingered on resulting in accumulation of dues of over Rs450 million. This situation has caused acute financial crunch to the newspaper industry in the province hence, there is no option left to the APNS but to take action against the Sindh government as per rules of society.
It is worth mentioning here that Sharjeel Inam Memon and Secretary Information in a meeting on August 16, 2014 had also assured APNS that the current dues of member publications for the period of January 01, 2014 to August 31, 2014 would be cleared shortly. It was also assured that a minimum quantum for each member publication would be allocated so that they may meet their bare minimum requirements.
The APNS provincial committee noted that none of the above assurances and promises has been honored. The APNS, therefore, requests the Sindh government to make payments of Rs10 crores against old outstanding dues and the dues of Rs15 crores relating to the current year advertising by November 30, 2014 positively as well as fix a minimum quantum for the newspapers, failing which the APNS would have no option but to suspend the advertisements of the Sindh government in member publications on the expiry of the above date.
” 
” 
” 
” 
