Minister Pradeep Kumar Amat, Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh and Director Saroj Samal today met the Chief minister at Naveen Nivas and showed the gold award Odisha Mandap received at the end of the 14-day international trade carnival in New Delhi.

Naveen advised the department to continue its good work and make the state’s outreach programmes successful with new, better communication strategies.

The Odisha Mandap at IITF was a cynosure of all that attracted over 5 lakh visitors. The Odisha Mandap had displayed the maritime trade glory of Odisha along with the rich art, culture and sculpture. The display was stunningly beautiful getting a positive appraisal from the jury.

In a reply to questions of MLAs Sankar Oram and Nabacharan Majhi in Assembly, the minister said the Information and Public Relations department paid Rs 242,67,64,373 to different sections of media to advertise for promoting awareness about different public welfare schemes launched by the government during the period.

Of the total amount, Rs 165.04 crore was spent for advertisement in newspapers, Rs 40.64 crore in electronic media, Rs 26.64 crore for printing and publishing the government’s public relation book ‘Aina’.

For outdoor advertisement of the schemes, the department spent Rs 3.25 crore for putting up hoardings and Rs 7.09 crore for folk arts, the minister said.

Besides, different departments of the government spent from their own budgets towards advertisement of their schemes, he added.

Refuting the allegation that the government favoured some media houses in issuing advertisement, Amat said the I&PR department made no discrimination in allocating funds on the ground of political affiliation of the media.