The Coronavirus crisis has caused a reduction in state revenues. It has come to light that crores of rupees are being wasted for the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar' social media accounts. On the one hand, while the funds for development works have been slashed, a shocking incident has taken place where Rs 6 crore has been set aside for handling of Ajit Pawar's social media accounts.
The General Administration Department promulgated an order signed by under-secretary R N Musale on the modalities for appointment of an external agency for handling the social media accounts on Wednesday. Accordingly, a private company will be appointed to disseminate information about the decisions, orders, etc. of Ajit Pawar's Deputy Chief Minister, Finance and Planning Excise Department to the people through social media.
The company will be given Rs 6 crore for this work. The company will manage Ajit Pawar's Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, YouTube and Instagram. The company hasalo been given task with WhatsApp, Telegram and messaging. The work will be handed over to the company after discussions with Pawar's secretary, Directorate General of Information and Public Relations.
The Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) is short of social media experts. The reason given in the order is that it would be appropriate to outsource the work to a private company. Through this, people can also lodge their grievances with Ajit Pawar, his work will also be handed over to this company. The new agency will be selected from the agencies on DGIPR's panel. The ultimate responsibility for all this work will rest with DGIPR.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's social media work was also handed over to a private agency last year. For this, e-tendering process was implemented. The shocking thing is that DGIPR has 1200 employees and the department is funded by Rs 150 crore per year. However, officials have expressed displeasure that the work is being outsourced to an external agency for the promotion of the deputy CM.