Arunachal Pradesh government has declared all media establishments in the state capital Itanagar as prohibited areas after 5 p.m. to ensure safety and security of the media persons.
A formal announcement to this effect was made by Chief Minister Nabam Tuki in his speech at the 28 Statehood Day function held here on Thursday. Mr Tuki also said that to uphold the freedom of the press, his government had deployed police personnel and installed CCTV cameras in all media houses for effective security.
Mr Tuki’s announcement came a day after the Arunachal Press Club and Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) called off their indefinite media shutdown. The APC and APUWJ had called an indefinite media shut down from Friday after the Students’ Union Movement of Arunachal announced plans to stage a dharna in front of Arunachal Times, an English daily. They demanded the government to ban entry of unauthorised persons into media establishments after 5 p.m. to ensure safety of media persons.