Govt not responsible for delaying 9th wage board

The formation of the 9th wage board is being delayed because of the nonchalant attitude of the media owners, not the government, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday.  

The government could have effectively started its work had the owners given the names of their representatives to the board, she said. 

The PM was addressing a joint iftar and doa mahfil of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) at Jatiya Press Club.

"We've already given nod to the 9th Wage Board, but it remained stuck not from the government side, rather from the owners' side. Here, I see so many owners and I believe they'll do their part," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said, "… I want every owner to abide by the wage board...I know there're some owners who follow it and there're others who don't." She also said the electronic media should also come under the purview of the board.

Turning to the criticisms of the government by the media, she said these days there are so many criticisms and many writings against the government both at home and abroad. Referring to the criticisms in the media against the government, Hasina said her government believes in press freedom. "Could you do such thing during others' rule? You can say whatever you want in talk shows with true and untrue words and we don't obstruct you as we've created the environment for flourishing the private TV channels. Otherwise, where could such talk shows have been run?" she questioned.

Highlighting various steps taken by her government for the welfare of the media industry and journalists, she said the newspaper industry has been declared as a services industry so that it could avail various facilities. Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, PM's Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, and president and secretary general of a faction of BFUJ Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul and Omar Faruq also spoke at the programme.