Chandigarh, February 8: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday gave approval to grant monthly pension of Rs.12,000 to veteran accredited journalists in the state, conceding a long-pending demand of the journalist fraternity.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that Captain Amarinder gave the nod to the “Pension Scheme for Journalists” in recognition of outstanding contribution of media persons in the dissemination of information to the public. A notification to this effect would be issued shortly.
The spokesperson said that any journalist to be eligible under the scheme should not be less than 60 years of age and should be accredited by the Information & Public Relations Department, Punjab, for a qualifying period of not less than 20 years.
The journalist, in order to be eligible, should also not have any criminal proceedings pending against him, nor should he/she be in illegal occupation or possession of any government property.
The journalist should not be drawing a salary or pension, provided that where a journalist is drawing a pension from a Fund wholly or partly subscribed by him, the same shall not render him ineligible to draw pension under this scheme.
