LUCKNOW: Do Lucknow journalists deserve the repeated knocking which they keep getting every now and then from the powers-that-be? A straight-forward and honest answer perhaps is yes. If they bite the bait, somebody will certainly pull the line.
Journalism in the state capital stands out as the only private sector job which promises allotment of a government house. The estate department of the government owns around 3,000 houses meant to facilitate posting of its civil servants in Lucknow. Politicians and journalists are the only exceptions to hog a significant share in this governmental housing facility. According to the estate department records, journalists have more than 300 houses allotted mostly in their individual capacities.
Only the chief minister of the state has the prerogative of obliging' a journalist with a government accommodation. It certainly is a huge favour. These houses are located in posh areas in the heart of the city and are five to 10 times cheaper than the market rent. If a three-bedroom apartment around Mal Avenue would cost anything between Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 a month, the government provides an independent house in the Raj Bhawan or Gulistan Colony for just between Rs 700 and Rs 1,000.
Even as he blasted journalists twice in the last fortnight, chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav allotted five houses to scribes in the last week. In his two-year regime, as many as 37 journalists have gained as many houses following the chief minister's benevolence.
But official kindness extends to a level where it has the journalists by the scruff of their neck. Of the 300-odd houses allotted to journalists, at least 85 are occupied by defaulters', according to a estate department estimate. These scribes either represent no media at all, or have left Lucknow without surrendering the allotment, have sub-let the accommodation or have not paid the meagre monthly rent for decades. But they still have been in possession of these houses, thanks to various chief ministers who have come and gone. It is this group which has the entire community share the blame.
Here are some examples drawn from the estate department's inquiry report. There is a woman who has been allotted a C-type accommodation in Dilkusha Colony on the basis of her employment in a leading Hindi daily. According to a senior official dealing with the issue, she is neither employed with the claimed newspaper nor has she ever been a journalist. She is simply a housewife. The allotment has been made by the chief minister himself. There are at least 21 cases of so-called' journalists, including hangers-on of politicians, who have been allotted accommodation on this false pretext.
There is another list which reveals details of huge rent arrears. There are five journalists who owe more than a lakh of rupees to the state's exchequer -- the highest sum being Rs 2.87 lakh owed by a journalist occupying C-76, Butler Palace.
There are other seven who owe between Rs 50,000 and Rs one lakh and another 20 who have to pay rent between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000. Most of them have been served eviction notices but the CM's office or influential minister's bail them out when it comes to implementing the orders. These and similar other issues have made the official hook plunge even deeper to choke even a semblance of a critical voice in print or television.
