CAG slams Kejriwal government for Rs 18.47 crore 'unjustified' ad spend

The Delhi government’s Rs 18.47 crore nationwide advertising blitz on its first anniversary was “unjustified”, “irregular” and against the “basic financial tenets of public expenditure”, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in a scathing indictment of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

Stating that the achievements of the Delhi government should be highlighted only for the people of the city, the draft report by the national independent auditor has hit out at the Kejriwal-led administration for spending taxpayers’ money on print media advertisements for different city editions of national newspapers and regional newspapers for its first anniversary in February.

The report – reviewed by dna – has also said the Delhi government incurred “unfruitful” expenditure to the tune of Rs.33.52 lakh by publishing Hindi advertisements in English newspapers about its various schemes, initiatives and programmes since last year.

“Delhi government is answerable to the taxpayer of Delhi and should target the people of Delhi through advertisements. Advertisements all over India show imprudent expenditure of the Delhi taxpayer money,” the report states about the expenditure of Rs.18.47 crore – Rs.11.93 crore for city editions of national newspapers and Rs.6.54 crore for regional ones.

This figure could go up since files related to other regional language newspapers and national Hindi, English and Urdu newspapers are yet to be scrutinised.

Disseminating information meant for the people of Delhi to the entire country is “against basic financial tenets of public expenditure” and “irregular”, the CAG has said.

The numbers
 
According to the report, the AAP government incurred an expenditure of Rs.14.42 crore on advertisements in different editions of 26 national newspapers between February 14and 17 this year to mark its first year in power. This included eight pages of coloured advertorials, which comes to two pages every day during this period. Of this, Rs.2.49 crore was spent on Delhi editions, while the remaining Rs.11.93 crore went to advertorials for other cities in the country.
 
In addition, Rs.6.54 crore was spent for advertorials in regional newspapers.
 
The audit body has also sought expenditure details of Delhi government advertisements on the electronic media and mentioned advertisements in regional channels.
 
The Rs.33.52 lakh for publishing advertisements in Hindi in English newspapers has also come under the scanner.
 
Between October last year to January this year, the Delhi government spent Rs.5.17 lakh to highlight the fact that it had done away with the management quota in nursery admissions in January this year, Rs.21.85 lakh to advertise the inauguration of an elevated road from Azadpur to Prembari Bridge in November last year and Rs.9.26 lakh to promote car-free day in October 2015.

The process

According to highly placed sources in the audit body, the exercise, which started nearly two months ago, is aimed at examining the ‘thematic working of the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP)’’ of the Delhi government.

The DIP is responsible for dissemination of all information related to the Delhi government and its publicity events through its different departments.

The lengthy audit process will be carried out for three financial years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. This will cover the publicity campaigns and advertisements during the former Sheila Dikshit regime, a year of lieutenant governor rule and a year of the AAP government.

AAP Government’s view

The AAP government has often drawn flak for its elaborate publicity campaigns and countrywide advertisements.

Government officials said the CAG has sent some draft observations, for which relevant details will be furnished to the audit body. 

Government ad guidelines 

Acting on the Supreme Court’s order, the information and broadcasting ministry has recently constituted a three-member committee headed by former chief election commissioner BB Tandon to monitor government ads. Sources said the panel will also examine cases of excessive and selective advertisements, including instances by the Delhi government that have been brought to its notice. Currently there are no specific guidelines for government 
advertisements on print media.