Speaking at a function organised at the Bachat Bhavan to felicitate the newly-appointed Deputy Director of Information of Amravati region Maruti Kulmethe and District Guardian Minister D B Pawar-Patil.

The judge said that the felicitation of Kulmethe was the acknowledgement of his ability to hold together all sections of the media while he was working here as the District Information Officer.

Vinay Karegaonkar, Shankar Sangle, Gunwant Thorat, AIR station director, Ashok Khade of the Publicity department, Devidas Bhore of local Marathi daily Sinhazep, Narendra Vairagade of dailyDeshonnati and MLA Madan Yerawar also spoke at the function. Maruti Kulmethe, D B Pawar-Patil and Shankar Sangle were felicitated by giving them shawls and shrifals.

In his speech, Kulmethe expressed his profound gratitude to the journalists and the officials for their cooperation during his tenure at Yavatmal and assured that no injustice would be done to small newspapers and weeklies with regards the allotment of government advertisements.

Narrating his family background, since he belongs to a tribal community, he said that he could rise to the post of the Deputy Director of Information because of the cooperation and inspiration of his friends and well-wishers.

D B Pawar-Patil observed that public felicitation was nothing but the living testimony of one's work for the betterment of the people.

He urged the mediapersons to use their pen to write the truth and called upon them to fight against yellow journalism which has emerged as an imminent threat to the nation.

He also assured thathe would try to find out an immediate solution for the problems of the MIDC-based Orient Syntex Mill Workers who gathered at the venue and shouted slogans against the management and demanded justice from the minister.

Collector Jalota praised Maruti Kulmethe for his outstanding contributions towards the successful conduct of Yavatmal Mahotsav and called upon the pressmen to indulge in positive criticism instead of mud-slinging or trying to find faults with the system. He also urged them to highlight the developmental activities of the State Government.

The president of the Working Journalists' Union Dinesh Chordia gave the introductory speech and members of various unions of journalists, staffers of both publicity and All India Radio, editors of newspapers and eminent citizens attended the function. Padmakar Malkapure compered the programme and Vinod Deshmukh proposed a vote of thanks.