Use full ad budget:PMO to ministries

To derive full mileage from the advertisements extolling the Centre's achievements, the Prime Minister's Office has written to all central ministries, asking them to ensure that the entire budget for publicity is used during the current fiscal.

The missive is surprising, as the PMO normally does not involve itself in the issue of expenditure of the central ministries, that too on an expense head which is non-Plan and where the sum involved is less than Rs 1 crore per ministry on an average.

The advice given to the ministries says that they should ensure that funds are fully utilised in 2003-04.

On the eve of the general elections, most of the major central ministries have booked advertisements on the electronic and print media detailing the achievements of the Centre in the current year, as well as during the last five years.

The advice has been sent this month, as the media blitz may have to be terminated by February 20, once the election schedule is announced.

Government sources said while ministries do release such advertisements periodically, the calibrated nature of the media blitzkrieg has become very noticeable.

Since the fund requirement per ministry is within the financial powers of the financial advisers of the ministries, they do not need any nod from the expenditure department for the reallocation pattern.

But many of them have still approached the department to ratify the same, to be on the safe side.

The finance ministry is itself spending about Rs 50 crore for the India Shining campaign and it is expected that the collective sum for the expenditure of all the other ministries combined could be above Rs 100 crore.