IMPHAL, NOVEMBER 18: Manipur-based newspapers particularly the Imphal based houses failed to appear on the newsstands on Friday after publishers and distributors decided to stop publication in view of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
Members of All Manipur Newspapers Publishers Association (AMNPA) and the All Manipur Newspapers Sale and Distributors Association (AMNSDA) besides newspersons also undertook a sit-in demonstration in Imphal. They demanded inclusion of newspapers houses in the exemption list of accepting the demonetized notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 like hospitals and milk booths etc.
Members of the AMNPA and the AMNSDA also placed their grievances before the state’ Chief Secretary O Nabakishore minutes after the day’s five-hour sit-in demonstration.
The president of the AMNPA, S Niladhaja Singh, issued a memorandum to Chief General Manager P Vijaya Kumar of Reserve Bank of India. The organizations implore him to consider inclusion of newspaper houses in the exempt-list, allowing them and others such as the airports and railways, and hospitals and milk booths to accept demonetized notes till November 24. He stated that the newspapers were also in a way performing essential services of disseminating news and information.
He assured that the inclusion would in no way negate the demonetization exercise as there were records of audit reports submitted earlier to the RNI (Registrar Newspapers for India) for reference as far as transaction of business was concerned.
“We’ll discuss and decide future course of action once there is positive response from the authorities concerned,” Ajit Wangkhemcha of the AMNSDA said.
Presently, more than a dozen newspapers, including English and vernaculars, are published from Imphal.
