Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 6: Governor NN Vohra today conferred ‘Journalist of the Year’ Award to Sanjeev Pargal, Jammu Bureau Chief, Daily Excelsior and Vivek Singh, Principal Correspondent, Dainik Jagran at a function held in Press Club of Jammu.
The award had been constituted by Prof RK Chhibber Memorial Trust in the memory of Prof Chhibber, a renowned educationist of the State, who had made his presence felt at the national level as a literary figure.
The award carried cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a citation.
Top journalists of the country formed the Panel, which screened entries for ‘Journalist of the Year’ award and selected the entries of Pargal and Vivek as the best. The Panel had received large number of entries for the award.
While presenting award to Sanjeev Pargal and Vivek Singh, Vohra congratulated and complimented them for the honour.
Several distinguished personalities of Jammu especially those from media fraternity attended the function.
Aneesh Bhanot, who has been affiliated with journalism at the national level and happens to be brother of Neerja Bhanot, an airhostess, who was shot and killed by the terrorists on September 5, 1986 but not before she had saved 359 lives and on whom recent Movie Neerja was picturized, also attended the function and stressed for transparency in the journalism.
Bhanot said today’s awards were being given for excelling in the field of political reporting and investigative journalism.
Pargal is already the recipient of State award, `Best Legislature Coverage Award’ (twice) and Reliance People’s Choice Award.
Prof Sushil Chhibber, wife of Prof RK Chhibber, Ved Bushan Gupta, Secretary of the Trust, Press Club president Ashwani Kumar and Secretary General Zorawar Singh also addressed the gathering.
Meanwhile, Kamal Rohmetra, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Excelsior and Neeraj Rohmetra, Executive Editor, have congratulated Sanjeev Pargal on receiving the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award.
In his address at the function, the Governor observed that the media is a vital organ and has an extremely crucial role in sustaining and strengthening democracy. He urged journalists to be detached, objective and fair and free from political biases while writing on sensitive issues and matters of public importance.
Vohra urged the journalistic fraternity to powerfully project issues relating to corruption, misgovernance, poverty, illiteracy, safety and security of women and children, upliftment of the rural areas etc. and help the Government to effectively disseminate development and welfare programmes as enhancement of awareness would benefit the targeted segments of the population and, besides, promote accountability.
The Governor noted that if our print and electronic media work responsibly within parameters of positivity and productivity it can be extremely effective in spreading awareness and focusing critical attention on important issues. He said that journalists have an important role which they can play for building a bright future for our country.
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