AAP Rs 526 cr ad budget to hide failure of poll promises: NDMC

BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation today hit out at the AAP dispensation over its decision to allocate a whopping Rs 526 crore for information and publicity, saying the move was an attempt to "hide and polish its failures" in fulfilling its poll promises.
The Delhi government and the cash-strapped NDMC have been at loggerheads for past several months for release of funds to meet civic work needs and payment of arrears to sanitation workers.
"Rs 526 crore set aside by the Delhi government for publicity in the budget for the year 2015-16 is an attempt to hide and polish its failures," NDMC Standing Committee Chairman Mohan Bhardwaj alleged.

He further alleged that hard-earned money of the people of Delhi is being allocated for "individual publicity" in the garb of government advertisements, and demanded that money be released to the corporations for disbursing salaries of sanitation workers.
The government, however, has strongly defended the allocation in its budget, arguing that a separate head has been created for publicity and advertisement for the first time and that the figure may be less than the amount spent in previous years by various departments.
Making a reference to legal constraints, Bhardwaj said that allocating such a huge amount for publicity is an "attempt to make irrelevant" the guidelines of the Supreme Court regarding government advertisements.

"In reality, this amount has been allocated to hide the Delhi government's failure in fulfilling its poll promises," he claimed.
He said that while such a huge amount has been allocated for publicity, a mere Rs 267 crore has been earmarked for public works, Rs 563 crore for sports, Rs 345 crore for urban development, Rs 189 crore for agriculture and allied activities and Rs 1 crore for research.