Maharashtra: MVA govt spent Rs 155 crore on publicity in 16 months, reveals RTI

Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis said the Uddhav Thackeray government hasn’t done anything that deserves to be promoted

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has spent Rs 155 crore on publicity in the last 16 months, a Right To Information query has revealed.

The three-party government has spent Rs 5.99 crore on social media and Rs 9.6 crore is spent every month on publicity campaigns, says the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR), in the information given to RTI activist Anil Galgali. The activist had sought the statement of accounts between December 11, 2019, and March 12, 2021. The government spent Rs 20.31 crore in 2019, with the highest expenditure of Rs 19.92 crore on Covid-19 vaccination campaigns.

In 2020, a total of Rs 104.55 crore was spent to promote 26 departments - Rs 5.96 crore for Women's Day, Rs 9.99 crore on Animal husbandry/dairy development department, Rs 19.92 crore on National Health Mission and Rs 22.65 crore on special publicity campaign in four phases. There is also a social media cost of Rs 1.15 crore. It spent Rs 6.49 crore on Maharashtra Urban Development Mission in four phases.

The Disaster Management department has spent Rs 9.42 crore on cyclone-related publicity, of which Rs 2.25 crore was spent on social media. The state health education department has spent Rs 18.63 crore, while Rs 20.65 lakh has been spent on the Shiv Bhojan campaign with Rs 5 lakh as social media bill.

In this year, 12 departments had spent Rs 29.79 crore till March 12. The health education department spent Rs 15.94 crore; Rs 1.88 crore has been given to Jal Jeevan Mission's publicity campaign of which Rs 45 lakh were spent on social media drives. The Women and Child Development department spent Rs 20 lakh on social media in its total spend of Rs 2.45 crore. The Minorities Department has spent Rs 48 lakh on social media alone out of its total grant of Rs 50. The health department's social media bill is Rs 75 lakh out of the total expenses of Rs 3.15 crore.

‘Information doubtful'

Galgali said the expenditure could be higher because DGIPR does not have complete information. "Expenditure made in the name of social media is questionable. Apart from that, the calculation of the expenditure shown under the name of creative gives rise to doubts," he said. Galgali has written to CM Uddhav Thackeray demanding that the government upload on its website all information on publicity expenditure, the nature of the campaign and the names of beneficiaries.

‘What's the publicity for?'

Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis asked whether the MVA government deserved such kind of publicity when it had done "nothing" since 2019. "Who do they promote and for what? We see no work that should be publicised by spending a huge amount of public money," he added, demanding that the government should provide a break-up of expenditure so that the people know which leaders hogged the limelight. Fadnavsi said the MVA has increased this year's publicity budget to Rs 246 crore. "The BJP government's publicity budget in the first year was a mere Rs 26 cr."