Maintain distance from CM, govt tells scribes; retracts

› Reporters cannot run after the CM to take his individual bite once he has addressed the media. NOTICE FROM SONEPAT DPRO, this was later withdrawn

ROHTAK : Journalists in Sonepat were told to maintain their distance from chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, “or they will be responsible for ...outcome of any negligence in this regard”.

On Tuesday evening, Sonepat district information and public relations officer issued a notice – later withdrawn — to journalists telling them that they must not go near the CM to take his bites (interview/comment) individually and can talk to him only in groups. The diktat comes days after Khattar was seen evading journalists’ questions on Gurgaon Police’s handling of the Ryan murder case.

The notice went on to ask scribes to maintain a certain distance from the CM, during his press conferences, due to security concerns.

“Journalists take their cameras and mikes too close to the CM, which is not right from the security point of view and also causes inconvenience to the CM,” the notice read.

Soon after it was circulated, the department retracted it in an email to scribes without assigning any reason.

SONEP AT DPRO SUSPENDED

Late on Tuesday, Haryana women and child development minister Kavita Jain tweeted that Sonepat DPRO, who issued the notice, had been suspended.

She added the notice was an attempt to spoil the image of the government.