Telangana State bans entry of media into Secretariat

Hyderabad: The Telangana government wants the media to depend only on official press releases on day to day basis and does not want and mediaperson to meet any officer to gather information.

In an unusual decision, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has directed Chief Secretary S K Joshi to ban the entry of media into the temporary secretariat complex at BRK Bhavan with immediate effect.

Shocked over this, a delegation of scribes called on the Chief Secretary at his chambers on Friday and submitted a memorandum stating that the decision would hinder them from performing their duty of news gathering related to government departments.

They said the media was told that they will not be allowed to enter the BRK Bhavan during the period when the offices were being shifted from the secretariat complex but now this new order has put a ban on their entry forever.

The Chief Secretary said that there was nothing he could do and cannot revoke it unless the government takes a decision to allow the media.

The journalists felt that this reminds them of the dark days of emergency and was a violation of their constitutional rights to seek information.

They also later staged a silent protest in front of the BRK Bhavan and demanded the government to permit the media into the secretariat.

The issue is likely to be taken up by various journalist organisations.

The next course of action, including the possibility of knocking on the doors of the courts, will be discussed soon, the journalist organisations said.