Patna, May 30: The media had a harrowing time covering President A P J Abdul Kalam's engagements in the state capital today with most of them denied entry to function venues. Though media personnel were issued passes by the state administration for coverage of the president's interaction with school children at Raj Bhavan, barring reporters and cameramen of some TV channels, others from the print and local electronic media were denied entry. Frantic efforts by mediamen to secure entry by contacting senior state officials bore no fruit as all of them had switched off their cellphones.
Raj Bhavan public relations officer Vijay Shukla expressed helplessness to come to the scribes' aid saying only the crew of some TV channels were granted entry by District Magistrate Deepak Prasad.
When mediamen arrived at the venue of a joint function of the Bihar Industries Association and State Chapter of Confederation of Indian Industries at the L N Mishra Institute of Economic Development and Social Change, the scene was no different.
As the scribes argued with police and civil authorities present at the venue, they were curtly told by the Patna city Superintendent of Police O N Bhaskar that the step was taken following an instruction from the president's secretariat.

Although no reason was officially cited for barring majority of mediamen from covering Kalam's programmes, the step was probably taken following last night's commotion at the airport during the president's arrival.

Bureau Report