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The executive committe of the newspaper society today met here, following which it released a statement expressing "deep concern and anguish at the non-payment of advertisement bills of selected member publications for several years."
"This has caused severe financial distress to these newspapers as the media industry passes through a very difficult period. The Society urged the chief minister to clear dues of its members without further delay," it added. Incidentally, West Bengal chief miniter Mamata Banerjee is in charge of the information and cultural affiars department, which handles the publicity for the state government.
INS also expressed dismay at the reported stand of the state government to not clear dues of its predecessor's dispensation, saying this was "a negation of constitutional principles."
Publications which are part of INS whose substantial payments are being delayed are, the ABP group, Bartaman, The Statesman, according to sources close to the development.
The ABP group alone has dues in the range of Rs 25 crore, sources said. The ABP group publishes major news dailies in West Bengal like The Telegraph, Anandabazar Patrika and E-bela apart from several other publications.
"Broadly, the government is favouring publications that are pro-government. What the state government is doing is politically motivated. We ourselves have dues for period of over two years," said an official of a major media organisation who did not wish to be named.
Government officials denined any knowledge of notice. "We are not aware of this. If you talk about dues, that is not something unusual when it involves dealings with the government," Ritendra Narayan Basu Roy Choudhury, director of information and cultural affiars department, government of West Bengal said.
However, he refused to share details about the total dues, publications concerned, or whether the dues have run into several years.
