In 8 years, Punjab govt spent Rs 1,500cr on ads in electronic and print media

Bathinda: An RTI query has revealed that the Punjab govt has spent Rs 1,534 crore over the past 8 years on promoting its achievements through advertisements or notices in print and electronic media.Out of this, Rs 1,093 crore was spent on electronic media, and Rs 441.22 crore on print. Of the Rs 441.22 crore, Rs 317.17 crore was spent in the last three years, as revealed by information procured by a social activist from Bathinda under the RTI Act.Bathinda-based RTI activist Sanjeev Goyal received a reply from the Director of Information and Public Relations on May 13, according to which Rs 1,093 crore was spent on advertisements in electronic media over the last 8 years, from 2017 to March 2025, but a year-wise breakdown was not provided. Sanjeev stated that according to the reply on money spent on advertisements in print media, Rs 124.05 crore was spent under the Congress govt from 2017 to 2022, and Rs 317.17 crore was spent over three years under the Aam Aadmi Party govt from 2022 to March 23, 2025. As per the reply, Rs 5.77 crore was spent in 2017-18, Rs 14.24 crore in 2018-19, Rs 25.31 crore in 2019-20, Rs 26.70 crore in 2020-21, Rs 52.03 crore in 2021-22, Rs 92.76 crore in 2022-23, Rs 129.97 crore in 2023-24, and Rs 94.44 crore in 2024-25 (till March 23, 2025). He mentioned that in 2023-24, the amount spent on advertisements or notices in print media was the highest, at almost Rs 130 crore. MSID: 121340954 413 |