Maha govt positive on law for protection of scribes: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said his government was in favour of a law for protection of journalists, but it needed to be ensured that it catered only to "genuine" members of the fourth estate.
"My government is not averse to enacting a stringent act to protect journalists in the performance of their duties ....We want to ensure that genuine journalists are protected and not those who do wrong things under the guise of journalist. I want the journalist fraternity to provide guidance to the government on how to ensure that the law benefits genuine journalists," Fadnavis said.
A committee set up by the previous Congress-NCP government had said that there was no need for such a law, the Chief Minister said, adding that his government was in favour of the law.

"But we are positive on it. We only need to ensure that genuine journalists are covered under the act," he said here after inaugurating the renovated press room at Mantralaya (the secretariat).
On the demand for pension for journalists, Fadnavis said his government was working on a proposal. "I have asked the authorities to ensure that the final decision is taken before my government completes a year in the office," he said.
Speaker of Legislative Assembly Haribhau Bagde, Chairman of Legislative Council Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde attended the function.

All of them spoke in favour of schemes for pension and housing for journalists and asked the Chief Minister to look into the matter at the earliest.