Team Herald
MARGAO: Is there nothing newsworthy happening in South Goa, or are the journalists of this district simply less important? These are questions being asked by many, as the press room in the South Goa Collectorate building has been kept closed for almost two years now.
The reason for this closure, according to the Department of Information and Publicity, is that they do not have staff to run the office in the South.
However, NGO GOACAN has now taken up the issue and has decided to meet the heads of the departments concerned, so the press room is re-opened at the earliest.
Reliable sources said that the press room at the South Goa Collectorate has been closed since September 2021 and all the staff were transferred to Panjim of Information and Publicity.
Arvind Tengse, a senior journalist from Margao, said that then Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar had sanctioned a press room at the Matanhy Saldanha Complex, after appeals from journalists in the commercial town. Following this, the Margao office of the Information Department was opened.
“Suddenly, some years back, the photographer and a clerk who were working at the Margao office and also residents of South Goa, were shunted to the Panjim office, and the Margao office was closed,” he stated.
He said that it looks like the government wants to suppress the media indirectly. “The ruling as well as the opposition parties want the media for their publicity only during elections. Nobody is interested in solving the problems faced by the media,” said Tengse.
“And with no PRO for any government department in South Goa, getting the official take on any issue becomes difficult,” added Tengse.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Roland Martins, Convenor of GOACAN, expressed shock and said no officials from the Department of Information and Publicity were available in the press room.
“Is there nothing happening in the South Goa district that needs to be reported?” he questioned.
Martins said that they will be taking this matter up with the Secretary for Information and Publicity, Director of DIP, and the South Goa Collectorate at Margao.
However, Dipak Bandekar, Director of DIP, said that they were forced to shut down the press room at Margao due to shortage of staff.
“We are covering all the important events being organised by the government despite the closure of the press room at Margao. Staff deployed at Margao were transferred during the celebration of Goa’s 60 years of Liberation,” said Bandekar. He assured that the said press room will be functional once recruitment of new staff is done.
