APCU team meets Gogoi with a slew of demands

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, February 13: A team of the Assam Press Correspondents' Union (APCU), led by its president Manoj Singh, working president Mousomjyoti Baishya and secretary general Abdul Khaleque today met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at his residence at Koi-dhora in the city on various problems being faced by the jourlists of the state. They submitted a 15-point charter of demands to the Chief Minister.

The jourlists told the Chief Minister that as many as 24 jourlists had been killed in the state since 1991, and their next of kin were yet to get justice and compensation. "Jagjit Saikia, a jourlist of Kokrajhar, was killed on November 22, 2008 by miscreants. The Chief Minister had then promised to pay Rs 3 lakh and a government job to the next of kin of Saikia. Though the cash was paid, the job is yet to be given," the jourlists said, and requested the Chief Minister to appoint the wife of Saikia in a post, if need be, by taking a Cabinet decision. They also demanded of the Chief Minister to institute a jourlist award in the me of Kamala Saikia, the first jourlist victim. He had been killed by militants in 1991. Other demands of the team included DIPR recognition cards for all jourlists, including those working from rural areas, and a guest house for jourlists in Guwahati so as to give accommodation to jourlists from other parts of the state visiting Guwahati.