CAG should audit ad expenditure of other states, says Sisodia

Welcoming an audit of expenditure on advertisement of the Delhi government by the CAG, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has demanded audits of advertisement expenditure of the Central government and all the states as well. In a letter to the CAG, Sisodia claimed that misinformation was being spread that only the Delhi government issued advertisements out of the state and says that several other governments also issued advertisements in Delhi as well.

He also demanded a CAG audit of those advertisements issued to the Central government amounting to Rs 1,000 crore. In his letter, Sisodia stated that the CAG audit findings will nail the lies being spread by vested interests about the amount spent by the Delhi government on advertisements during the entire financial year 2015-16.

“Various kinds of misinformation are being spread about our government’s advertisement expenses. It is an outrageous lie which has repeatedly stated that this expenditure is around Rs 500 crore, while really, it doesn’t amount to more than Rs 75 crore for the entire year, which I am sure will come out in your audit,” Sisodia wrote.

He further stated that he was disappointed to know that the CAG was only auditing the advertisement expenses of the Delhi government alone. It is being as if Delhi was the only government who places advertisements in media platforms outside the state. CAG is NOT auditing the advertisement expenses of either the Central government or any other state government, Sisodia wrote.

The Deputy Chief Minister reminded the CAG of the conversation he had with the latter when they met last. “In our meeting I had brought to your attention how thousands of crores of rupees were spent by the Central government on publicising Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Mann Ki Baat, Yoga Day, Jan Dhan Yojna, Make In India, Give Up LPG Subsidy scheme, etc. Everyone knows nothing has been done on any of these schemes being advertised by the Central government and the claims being made in these ads are blatant lies. In another case, the time I met you at your office, the city — Delhi — was awash with the hoardings of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal announcing that his was an honest government and under him Haryana was making progress”, he wrote.

The Central government has reportedly spent Rs 1,000 crore on advertising its second year anniversary celebrations. Advertisements were placed in all national dailies in addition to TV and radio campaigns and it ran for more than a week celebrating PM Narendra Modi’s two years in office, the letter further stated.

What was more surprising was there was no message of public interest in these advertisements. They just carried pictures of Modiji and slogans praising him.

The governments of Telangana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. carried massive publicity campaigns across all states in India.

“Therefore, the advertisement expenses of all governments are being debated nationally for the last few years and thus was dealt by no less than the Supreme Court. I would be extremely grateful if you can direct the Principal Accountant Generals of other state governments which have much larger publicity budgets than the government of Delhi to carry out a comprehensive audit of the government ad expenditure of their respective states,” Sisodia wrote.