Odisha Assembly: Congress Demands Law For Protection of Journalists

Bhubaneswar: Expressing concern over the rising incidents of attacks on working journalists in Odisha, senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra on Monday demanded enactment of a law for protection of scribes.

Raising the issue in Odisha Assembly, Mishra said elected people’s representatives are also misbehaving with working journalists which is certainly a matter of concern.

“It has been observed that journalists are being misbehaved and attacked. The State government should bring a Journalist Protection Act as there is threat to the lives of working journalists. The rules should be framed similar to the ones which have already been implemented in some other states in the country,” said Mishra.

Congress MLA Sura Routray said, “The journalists are going through difficult times so the State government should provide wages and houses to journalists.”

BJD MLA Prafulla Samal, on the other hand, stated that the process for identification of journalists is yet to be completed.

“Working journalists should be given protection and other facilities. As Odisha Assembly Speaker himself is a journalist, we hope that he will certainly look into the matter,” said Samal.