Author: Agencies
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 30, 2010
There is a disparity in government spend on
advertisements to remember national icons. The Centre spent nearly triple
the amount to glorify Rajiv Gandhi in two months what it did for Lal Bahadur
Shastri in 10 years.
The Directorate of Advertising & Visual
Publicity (DAVP) spent nearly Rs 3 crore in two months on advertisements to
glorify Rajiv as against only Rs 87 lakh in 10 years for Shastri, also a former
PM. This was revealed in an RTI reply by the CPIO, DAVP, Mattu J P Singh who
refrained from disclosing the expenditure incurred in ads for other former
Prime Ministers.
Mumbai resident Ajay Marathe had filed an
RTI application with the ministry seeking information pertaining to advertisements
issued by the DAVP with photographs of Rajiv Gandhi and other former Prime
Ministers.
"Between July and August 2009, the DAVP
had issued eight advertisements worth Rs 2,97,70,498 glorifying Rajiv Gandhi.
These advertisements also had pictures of the former prime minister,'' Marathe
said.
In contrast, only Rs 87,23,901 was spent on
five advertisements between 2000-01 to 2009-2010 with photographs of late
Lal Bahadur Shastri, he said.
"Both Rajiv Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri
were former PMs of India. Both have contributed towards the welfare of the
nation and Lal Bahadur Shastri played a leading role in India's freedom struggle
movement. Then why this disparity when remembering them,'' he asked.
Mattu J P Singh, the CPIO, DAVP, also said
that no advertisements were issued by the DAVP with photographs of exprime
ministers other than that of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi
and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
