GUWAHATI: The All Guwahati Paper Hawker Association, in an emergent meeting here on Monday, decided to refrain from distributing newspapers from Tuesday till March 31.
“This decision has been taken for the safety of the hawkers and the customers in view of the current situation in the country,” the association said in a statement.
People associated with newspaper distribution business have claimed that people are giving up their subscriptions due to fear of contracting COVID-19 from the newspapers, though such fears hold no ground.
A leading physician even published an article in the state explaining that there is no possibility of COVID-19 transmission through newspapers.
Newspaper organisations are reportedly in talks with the hawkers’ body to persuade them to rethink their decision.
Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said there was no basis to such fears.
Addressing a press conference here, he said these were pure speculations and hold no truth.
He said, “If newspapers carried the virus, the government of India would have stopped publication of all newspapers. There is nothing like this happening”.
“Sending right information to people is very important now. Media organisations can have special programmes to debunk fake news.”
Sarma also requested media houses to engage minimum staff during this critical period and advisory to the media organisations will be issued by the state government soon. (UNI)
