Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) on Saturday demanded Tk 50 lakh as compensation from media outlet owners for each journalists who died from coronavirus.FBUJ and DUJ made the demand in a joint statement after a meeting presided over by BFUJ President Molla Jalal at the Jatyia Press Club.
The journalist leaders also placed some proposals and specific demands for the health safety of the media workers in the country.
The joint statement said three journalists died from coronavirus and with symptoms of the virus while 80 more infected mass media workers are being treated either at their respective homes or hospitals.
The BFUJ and DUJ leaders also expressed concern over the role of Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) and Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO).
The statement said NOAB and ATCO leaders are silent instead of standing beside the journalists.
They warned of going on work abstention and taking other tough programmes like strike if the media owners fail to ensurehealth safety for the working journalists and do not stop terminatingmedia people at this time coronavirus pandemic.
They also demanded the payment of arrears and festival bonus for journalists before the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr.
The journalist leaders urged the media owners to bear all the treatment costs of the infected journalists.
They also urged the government to take steps for cancellingthe newspapers’ declaration and television channels’ licenses according if any of them violatesrules.
DUJ President Quddus Afrad conducted the joint meeting where BFUJ Secretary General Saban Mahmud, DUJ General Secretary Sajjad Alam Khan Tapu were, among others,present.
