Srinagar: An extraordinary meeting of the Kashmir Printers Association was held in Srinagar on Saturday under the chairmanship of President Bilal Ahmad Qureshi. The meeting was attended by all members of the association and the current situation was discussed.
According to a statement received by Kashmir Press Service, the meeting expressed deep concern over the 30 to 40 percent increase in the prices of raw materials needed to publish the newspapers. “This has a direct impact on newspaper owners as it is very expensive as printing equipment, including plate and ink prices, and increased electricity costs have forced press owners to change the cost of printing newspapers”.
In order to maintain the integrity and importance of the sector, namely newspapers, the meeting stated that immediate and concrete measures should be taken to moderate the prices of printing materials (raw materials) by revising them so that the Print shop owners and newspaper owners can get rid of the hassle.
Some important decisions were made at the meeting. Among other things, the meeting decided that if a newspaper owner tries to publish newspapers with arrears on one printing press and switches to other presses, then the publication of those newspapers will be stopped and not carried out by any printing press. The decision was sealed by consensus. The assembly thanked the Department of Information and Public Relations for having cleared the arrears due to the advertisements published monthly in the newspapers. “It has become a resource for the owners of the newspapers and with the same amount of money they can ensure the publication of the newspapers”