Director Information, Dr Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary today called for making the Department of Information a vibrant institution for dissemination of information and greater public outreach. He said the Department would be further strengthened by way of professional human resource and infrastructure at various levels including in districts and special welfare measures for media persons.Dr Shahid said this while reviewing the functioning of the Information Department and District Information Centers (DICs) at a meeting convened here today. Joint Director Information, Headquarters, Joint Director Information Kashmir, Deputy Director PR Kashmir and other officers of the Department were present at the meeting. Joint Director Information Jammu, the Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) and the District Information Officers (DIOs) of all the districts joined the meeting through video-conferencing.Asking the DIOs to increase the flow of information from the concerned districts, the Director Information also stressed the need for keeping close liaison with the local media-persons. He discussed various steps and measures to be taken for welfare of media persons and enabling a close interaction for greater professional synergy. He called for initiation of steps for establishments of Press Clubs in all the districts for providing a platform for sharing of information and exchange of ideas. He also called for bridging the gap between the development departments and the Information Department at the district level to effectively highlight the developmental activities being undertaken by the Government in various sectors enabling the common citizen to avail benefits under these schemes.
Dr Shahid said for the capacity building at the district level, the possibility of utilizing IEC component of various centrally sponsored flagship programmes in convergence mode with the Information Department would be explored with the line departments to ensure proper dissemination of vital information for effective involvement of all the stakeholders. DIOs were asked for specialized social media cell for effective public information and responding to queries of media persons with inputs from district administration and departments.He also took stock of the infrastructure facilities and other prerequisites at the divisional and the district level. He said the DICs would be strengthened by way of infrastructure and human resource as well as mobility so that these institutions can work more vibrantly.The Director also took stock of the progress of Digitization of Cable TV under the Digital Addressable System (DAS) for which the ADCs have been designated as Nodal Officers. He asked the ADCs that an effort should be made to complete the coverage before the cutoff date. He also underlined the need for launching an awareness campaign among the consumers for switch over to digital mode. Professional information sharing and greater liaison with media at district level was also discussed with ADCs.