OUR CORRESPONDENT
TINSUKIA: Some official orders issued by the Tinsukia district administration in recent times have created an unpleasant situation both within and outside the administration. The latest being the inquiry order pertaining to the death of a COVID patient and bribing episode on which several local organizations have raised an uproar.
According to sources, the order issued by the Deputy Commissioner i/c (assumed charge without formal notification) asked the inquiry officer to submit the report within 'three' days against standard norms of 7 days. Under prevailing situation of COVID and the house of the deceased Jhantu Dey being declared as containment zone, it was inappropriate under COVID protocol to undertake any inquiry exercise till de-containment of the house, though the report was partially complete, informed the source.
Second, it was agreed upon that any information related to COVID would be shared centrally among media persons by a designated officer and no information from any source should be divulged before declaration of official statement. The Tinsukia District Journalists' Association (TDJA) raised this contentious issue with the Tinsukia Deputy Commissioner after there was a controversy following leakage of information in social and web portal media. Of late, official information regarding number of COVID deaths and lockdown declaration in Tinsukia and Mukum municipal areas were leaked to select portal media much before official declaration. This not only created confusion but also deprived a section of print media.
The TDJA again reiterated its request to Tinsukia district administration to centralize public related information in order to avoid unauthenticated facts from being circulated. Besides, information from the government of public interest, if any, should not be quoted as source as has appeared in some portal media.