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| Information Department's ad liability piles up to Rs 23 crore | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 12: Critical of his predecessors' "liberal" way of issuing the government advertisements to "select" newspapers, former Director of Information Zaffar Ahmad Bhat has beaten all records of the liability accumulation in the past 65 years.
Well-placed insiders revealed to Early Times that the Information Department's cumulative liability of the outstanding on account of the government advertisements published in different newspapers has crossed a whopping mark of Rs 23 crore in November 2013. Sources said that even after liquidating liability worth more than Rs 10 crore, this liability of 23 crore had been created during Mr Bhat's three-year tenure as Director of Information.
Mr Bhat has been replaced first by Joint Director Jammu Soujanya Kumar and later by another KAS officer Tassaduq Jeelani recently. He has been appointed as Secretary Tourism. It has been observed that the liability of Rs 23 crore was in addition to unknown amount of money paid directly by different departments under 'Non Budget' [NB] category. Special colour displays and pull-outs on inaugurations, foundation stone laying ceremonies and other such events by Chief Minister, Governor, Ministers and other senior dignitaries, fall in the NB category and its payment is made directly by the concerned departments after verification of claims by Information Department.
The voluminous paid advertisements issued directly by boards, corporation and government companies like J&K Cements, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura, SKUAST K and SKUAST J, University of Kashmir, University of Jammu, other universities, J&K State Board of School Education and Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd, are not included in the Budget and the NB categories verified by the State Information Department.
Sources said that even the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Commissioner-Secretary Information BB Vyas have viewed the huge advertisement liability in the Information Department with grave concern as they have observed that even the dailies printed in just dozens and hundreds and being perceived as the mouthpieces of some Opposition parties, have been exuberantly favoured by Mr Bhat in the last three years. [These do not include this newspaper]. Men in the CM's Secretariat have begun crying that even after draining funds worth crores, the government's image was the worst among the people in general. In the past, Chief Minister has tweeted that his government's "excellent performance" had remained eclipsed due to "bad marketing".
It has also been pointed out that junior clerks have been holding the charge of heads of the advertisement sections, both in Jammu and Srinagar. For 10 to 20 years without change. In the process, they have developed huge vested interest and are known to have acquired different newspaper titles. These 'benami titles', often in the name of the Information Department officials' relatives, friends and acquaintances, are known to be controlled by the same officials.
Though many of these dailies are printed on just one or two days in a month only for the record of the information department, advertisements worth lakhs of Rupees have been released to them clandestinely. It has also surfaced that contractors and suppliers have been approaching the incharge officials of Advertisement Sections with bribe money to ensure that some particular notifications publish in the dailies of their choice. This gives them the chance of grabbing big contracts and supply orders in a fraudulent manner.
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