Media boycotts Mukul’s Budget reply
SHILLONG: The budget session of the State Assembly concluded on Wednesday with the Chairman Ronnie V Lyngdoh, who was presiding over the session in place of Speaker AT Mondal, adjourning the House sine-die.
The Meghalaya Appropriation Bill (No.II) Act 2015, besides some other Bills, was passed on the last day of the Session.
With this Bill being passed, a sum not exceeding Rs 9733 crore has been allocated to the different Government departments towards defraying the several charges which will come in course of payment during the financial year ending on the 31st March 2016.
The North East Adventist University Bill, 2015 and Meghalaya Clinker Cess Bill, 2015 were also passed on Wednesday.
The session, which began on March 9, debated several issues including long pending inter-State Assam-Meghalaya border and law order problem. On March 18, the House had also passed Marriage Compulsory Registration of Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
SCRIBES BOYCOTT CM’S SPEECH: Meanwhile, journalists both of the print and electronic media staged a walk-out in the Assembly protesting against reported remarks by Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma accusing media houses of being mouthpieces of the militants and of publishing only “paid news”.
Journalists, including editors and senior correspondents of newspaper houses walked out of the Assembly while the Chief Minister was replying to the debate on the budget.
Another statement of the Chief Minister which irked the scribes was that the Government was planning to bring a legislation to regulate the media.
In a joint meeting of Meghalaya Editors and Publishers Association (MEPA) and Shillong Press Club which was held on March 21 last, the statement of the Chief Minister was strongly objected to and a unanimous decision was taken to boycott his replies to the budget speech and other functions, events and cabinet meetings involving the Chief Minister for a period of one month.
It was also felt that the Chief Minister should withdraw his statement.
It may be mentioned that on Tuesday, there was unprecedented security overdrive and frisking of media persons at the entrance of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
From the beginning of the session on March 9, no security personnel frisked the media persons who entered the Assembly with valid passes. Besides the additional deployment of security personnel, additional CCTVs mounted on a van were put up in front of the main gate of the Assembly, an action that raised some amount of curiosity.