Srinagar: An important meeting of the Press Association Kashmir was held under the chairmanship of President Bilal Ahmed Qureshi in which the problems and issues related to the publishing of newspapers and printing presses established in the Kashmir Valley were discussed.
Concerned from Khidmat Printing Press, Tameel-e-Irshad, Images Printing Press, Rising Kashmir Printing Press, and Labab Printing Press were included.
On the occasion, the members pointed out that prices of printing materials, especially newsprint (paper), plate, ink, chemical, etc., have increased by about 40% in the last year and this trend is continuing unabated.
During the meeting, the members drew the attention of the government to the fact that if the price of newspaper publishing material continues to rise, the publication of newspapers may become a big problem and the newspaper owners will not be able to afford to bear this burden.
Such a situation, they said, was likely to force the newspaper owners to shut down or suspend the operations. They appealed to the government to pay attention to the issue and prevent the printing operation from being deleterious affected.
Another important decision was taken during the meeting that if a newspaper owner has outstanding printing charges of any printing press for the past one or two years, he or she should settle the accounts with the concerned press within 15 days otherwise after 15 days Publication of such newspapers will be suspended by the Printers Association.
