Maha CM’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ stalled for 10 months, but agency still given ₹2 crore: Congress
In the six shows telecast till November, Devendra Fadnavis interacted with citizens on various subjects.
The state unit of the Congress on Monday trained its guns on chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis by raising questions over his monthly interactive programme, Mee Mukhyamantri Boltoy (Chief Minister speaking). It questioned the appointment of an agency for running the programme, which had no experience, and was allegedly paid ₹2.36 crore without any work. The party also alleged that the programme has been discontinued for the past ten months, since November 2017, as the CM could not devote time.
However, the state government’s directorate general of information and public relations (DGIPR) department termed the allegations baseless.
General secretary and spokesperson of Congress’s state unit, Sachin Sawant, alleged that the allotment of the contract to an agency has emerged as a big scam. “The government has been paying ₹19.70 lakh every month to Effervescent Films Private Limited without having sufficient experience in the field. The agency, which was founded just three months prior to its appointment, was paid ₹2.36 crore towards the bills for the past ten months,” Sawant said.
In the six shows telecasted till November, the CM would interact with citizens over various subjects in the programme, and it was touted as CM’s version of Mann Ki Baat.
Sawant said, “The agreement signed by the state had no provision to deduct money in case the recordings didn’t take place. This led to losses. The agency was exorbitantly paid for various tasks, such as ₹50,000 and ₹30,000 to the director and assistant director respectively, ₹25,000 for script writing, ₹1 lakh for a five-camera set up, and ₹65,000 for colour correction, for each episode. The agency has been utilising the government’s studio, despite which it was paid separately for equipment,” he said.
In its clarification the DGIPR, stated, “The agency was appointed for two other programmes on TV and radio, and the bills raised were for all of them. The payment has not been done without work. The appointment was done only after following the online tendering process. The agency was involved in production of 339 episodes of Dilkhulas on radio, 195 episodes of Jai Maharashtra for Doordarshan and 12 episodes (including repeat telecasts) of Mee Mukhyamantri Boltoy.” It also added that the government used to pay extra for recording of Jay Maharashtra at Doordarshan studio. “We shifted it to our own studio at Mantralaya and upgraded its production value by using state of the art technology. The agency was hired for the upgraded technology,” the statement read.