Despite the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) and its statewide network, Maharashtra government will appoint public relations agencies for the office of the Deputy Chief Minister to upload his announcements on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Blogger, WhatsApp Bulletin, Telegram channel and through SMS. The government has earmarked Rs 5.98 crore for the publicity by roping in PR agencies. According to the government notification, it will be the responsibility of the DGIPR to see that there will not be any duplication of information released by the chief minister’s office and Dy CM’s office.
The government, on Wednesday, has issued a notification, whereby the CMO will issue decisions pertaining to CM Uddhav Thackeray, cabinet and other important decisions. Dy CM Ajit Pawar, who holds the Finance and Planning Department, through PR agencies in addition to his office, will release decisions with regards to his department and the meetings held by him with other departments.
According to the notification, the selection of PR agencies/agencies will have to be done by DGIPR through a panel by inviting tenders. It will be the DGIPR’s responsibility to keep a vigil on the functioning of these agencies to avoid shortcomings or mistakes in news releases uploaded on social media platforms. The PR agency is expected to upload the information received from the regional and district publicity offices on social media platforms.
The government has said that the expenses to be incurred on the dissemination of information and charges of these agencies is well within the 33% limit as the government has already introduced a 67% cut in planned expenditure due to revenue shortfall.
