Department heads cannot talk to media any more?
KARACHI: All high-ranking officials of different government departments have been prohibited from disclosing any kind of information to the media by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad.
He issued these directives through provincial ministers to all department heads, Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) Director General (DG) Abdul Malik Ghauri told Daily Times.
“Provincial Environment Minister Dr Saghir Ahmed told me that Ibad had directed all heads of government departments to stop talking to any media representative,” he said.
Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is a subsidiary body of the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (PEPA) that monitors, regulates and implements environmental laws in Sindh and media reporters often need to contact the DG for official quotes. The media will now be deprived of important information on essential departments like environment.
Daily Times contacted Ghauri to get his viewpoint on the environmental impact of the blast for removing the debris of the Northern Bypass Bridge and whether SEPA had conducted an assessment of the blast.
“I am a government employee and have been strictly directed to stop talking to the media. This ban is according to the rules so I can’t talk about it, but we have not conducted any assessment report on the issue and I cannot disclose the reasons,” he said. Ghauri also refused to outline these rules.
Meanwhile, Governor House denied the imposition of any such ban. “Why would the governor impose such a ban?” said his press secretary Wajahat Hussain.
Source: Daily Times
Date:9/9/2007
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