‘Action to be taken against ad agencies deliberately delaying submission of bills’

Secretary Information Department Nadeem-ur-Rehman Memon has said that action will be taken against those advertising agencies which deliberately delay submission of bills.

This he said while chairing a meeting in his office on Wednesday with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of advertising agencies, which are on the panel of the Information Department. Memon said that an effective mechanism for early payments to media houses has been devised in the department in order to avoid the outstanding liabilities at maximum level.

He said that a third-party audit firm is being hired to clear the liabilities of media houses by ascertaining the genuineness and verification of the claim bills accordingly and the payment details will be uploaded on the website. Stressing early submission of the bills, Secretary Information Nadeem-ur-Rehman directed the advertising agencies to submit the bills of the campaigns within the fifteen days after the release of any public awareness campaigns to print, electronic or social/digital media.

He said the scope the Information Department is not only limited to the publicity of the government but also to get public issues to be redressed by sending media reports of public demands and grievances to the concerned quarters. He said that the effective steps are being initiated for the revamping and improvement of the Information Department by using latest tools of information and communication technology.

He said that advertisements are being released by the department as per the criteria mentioned in the Advertisement Policy-2023, by considering the regularity, circulation, readership, viewership and audience assessment, whatsoever other than this directed in the policy. He further said that the detail of released advertisement mentioning space, amount and client department is being uploaded on the website of the Information Department.

The secretary information said that action is being taken against irregular newspapers by removing them from the Sindh Media List (SML). “Daily attendance and regularity report of the newspapers will also be uploaded on the website of the department”, he added.

Director General Public Relations Muhammad Saleem Khan, Director Information Administration and Accounts Muhammad Yousif Kaboro, Director Information Advertisement Imtiaz Ali Joyo, Deputy Director Information Sahib Khan Bhand, Information Officer Liaquat Ali Jamali and representatives from the different advertising agencies, including Salman Mansoor, Makhdoom Mansoor Hashmi, Sharaiz Hashmi and Abdul Qadir Shah, attended the meeting.