Editor's Guild requests Centre for unrestricted access to Parliament

New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar for unrestricted access for journalists to Parliament. It also urged them to roll back the curbs imposed during the Covid-19 period, PTI reported.

EGI writes to the speaker of Lok Sabha and the chairman of Rajya Sabha, urging for unrestricted access of journalists to cover the proceedings of the Parliament and the Central Hall, as well as constitution of the Press Advisory Committee. @loksabhaspeaker @VPIndia pic.twitter.com/iwY1jXnbWJ

— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) February 10, 2023

The Guild wrote the LS Speaker that Senior journalist's access to the Central Hall of the Parliament was suspended while the Press Advisory Committee continued to be informed for the last three years.

It wrote Dhankar that though limited access to the Parliament during the pandemic is appreciated bringing the same back when India remains at the top at maximum vaccination coverage lays unexplained.

The letter reminded that journalists of print and electronic media were allowed inside the Parliament to cover proceedings since its first session in May 1952.

"Our request is to restore complete access to all accredited media persons immediately, including the Central Hall," the Guild's letter to Dhankar said.

Further, the Guild's letter to LS Speaker underscored that the Press Advisory Committee was founded in 1929 under the guidance of the President of the first elected Legislative Assembly, Vithalbhai Patel. The first LS Speaker, G V Mavalankar, had decided that the Committee should discharge advisory functions, including examination of temporary and permanent admissions to the press gallery and that applications for such admissions would be referred to the Committee for its opinion and advice.

"Since then, the process remained in place till it was abandoned recently," the Guild said.

"We are certain under your guidance, these restrictions will be lifted by the Secretariat and members of the media admitted will have unhindered access in the 'temple of democracy', as Prime Minister Narendra Modi characterised Parliament on his first visit in 2014," letter to LS Speaker read.