SHILLONG: Opposition Congress MLAs, George Lyngdoh and H M Shangpliang have raised the issue of delay in payment of advertisement bills and better image building of Meghalaya.
Moving a cut motion, Lyngdoh brought to the notice of the government pending advertisement bills with the Directorate of Information and Public Relations. Shangpliang said the DIPR is reduced to a department that provides PA system with the DIPR boys running to fix the PA system.
He said that the achievements of the state need to be highlighted through billboards, hoardings, table books and the need for road shows to promote the state nationally and internationally. In reply, Information and Public Relation Minister AL Hek cited fund constraint as the reason for non-payment of advertisement bills.Hek said in the last quarter of this financial year, Rs 7,31,000 was paid to media houses and Rs 42,77,609 is the amount pending to be paid till August 2018, which will be met through the supplementary demand.
The Directorate of Information and Public Relations clears advertisement bills annually as they keep accumulating. “Many pending advertisement bills are also lying with other departments and efforts are made to clear bills from time to time,” he added.
Advertisement Policy
Hek informed that DIPR had prepared a draft revised and comprehensive advertisement policy and it was submitted to the government on June 26, 2016, for examination and approval.
“The draft Advertisement Policy is inclusive and covers all media including print media, ie newspapers, magazine and electronic media like television, online media and radio,” he said.
He also said that the draft policy will be made mandatory that all government departments have to ensure that all advertisements are routed through the DIPR except on emergency/urgent situations where concerned department can issue the advertisement directly to the media houses with intimation to the DIPR.
“It may be mentioned that equal distribution of advertisements to the media houses is maintained as far as practicable,” Hek said.
Hek informed that the department is in the process of preparing the modalities of the media society. “The main objective of the society is to handle funds of various departments meant for advertisement, plan media campaigns for government programmes, to formulate policies and procedures for all media related issues,” he said.
Stating that the task of constituting the media society is vast, the department is working on the modalities and the financial implications after which a detailed proposal will be made to the government for fund allotment.
Construction of DIPR office by MGCC
Hek informed that the government accorded administrative approval for the construction of the office building of DIPR at the existing DIPR complex at Lower Lachumiere at an estimated cost of Rs 4,48,40,000 only. “The amount paid to MGCC (Meghalaya Government Construction Corporation) till date in five installments is Rs 6,35,00,000 only,” he said.
He further said that the construction work is scheduled to be completed by March 2017 as per the agreement signed between DIPR and MGCC.
“However, due to inclement weather during the last two years, the construction work could not be completed in time. However, effort is on to ensure that the office building will be completed within this current financial year 2018-19,” he said.
Hek informed that the balance amount yet to be paid to MGCC is Rs 3,06,78,000. “Since an amount of Rs 2,51,00,000 only has been submitted to government for according sanction from the current financial year 2018-2019 where there is sufficient fund for the purpose,” he said. He said that an amount of Rs 55, 78, 000 only is the shortfall for payment to the MGCC. “Hence, the amount is required to clear dues to MGCC so that the new office building of DIPR can be accommodated immediately after the completion of its construction,” he said.
Further, an additional amount of Rs 58, 71, 645 only is exclusive of the original estimate mentioned above and is required to meet the expenditure for the additional works for construction of approach road for Pass Port Seva Kendra office including modification and extension of rooms and additional staircase with path for separate entry for the office of the Commandant of Civil Task Force, Shillong. “Hence, an additional amount of Rs 58, 71, 645 only is required for the said mentioned works,” Hek said.
MEPA gratitude
The Meghalaya Editors & Publishers Association (MEPA) expressed its gratitude to George B Lyngdoh and HM Shangpliang for raising the discussion of the problems faced by local media houses in the State Assembly on Tuesday.
MEPA which is a parent body of all print and other media houses, have time and again met state government officials, including ministers but their grievances were not heard. MEPA wants to place on record, the meeting it had with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma in the month of May 2018 and many issues were taken up and it hope that the Chief Minister will speed up accordingly.
MEPA appeals to the state Government to help the media houses, so that in turn they can help the thousand of employees who are direct or indirectly employed.
