Huge amount Paid to Media for Govt. sponsored advertisement

Huge amount Paid  to Media  for Govt. sponsored  advertisement

( Exposed  under RTI )

·         In 2018-19, the year  of General Election,  Govt. of Odisha  has spent  Rs. 225 crore  for  publication of advertisement  in Print and Electronic Media which  is 6  times higher  of previous year ( Rs. 41 crore)  .

·         The State  Govt. has  deliberately kept budget  for advertisement ( 2018-19) on higher side  to gain chief popularity and woo voters  by  using media  through  paid advertisement.  Nabin Patnaik Govt. succeeded  in winning election  through media propaganda.

·         As  the election  got over, the State  Govt. drastically  reduced  budgetary provision for media advertisement  limiting to just Rs. 36 crore in 2019-20 .

·         In 2019-20, Samaj  has been given  Rs. 21 crore ( 60% of the total budget  for media)  highest in comparison to both print  and electronic media , the reason is best  known to Govt.

·         There  is some  mismatch of data provided  by PIO. While  the  total budget expenditure  for advertisement  in Electronic media is  Rs. 126 crore in 2018-19( Table-1),  But   the list of Electronics media  given  money  for advertisement  shows  disbursement  of Rs. 62 crore. This  discrepancy needs to  be cross-checked.

·         In 2018-19, Zee Odisha  was given Rs. 11 crore  towards advertisement  which  is highest  payments among all electronics media. Reason may  be its  one-sided campaign  to glorify  Sri  Nabin Patnaik across the state.

Dear  friends

To give better  clarity  to readers how  this Govt.  survives on systematic managed media propaganda glorifying Nabin Patnaik, Chief Minister , Odisha  and highlighting his  scheme and programme  like Kalia Yojana, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, PEETHA Yojana, Biju BAHINI, Biju Pucca Gruha Yojana (  all Fake  and false schemes), RTI Application was  filed  to the PIO, Dept. of Information and Public Relation seeking  details  of budget  and expenditure for advertisement published  in media  of three  years . The objective  was  to give  3 years  analysis  of budgetary allocation and expenses  for advertisement. Forget  whether  the state  or  the people  has been  benefitted, but Media   house been greatly benefitted by Govt. sponsored media  campaign  about  Nabin patnaik Govt. which  has  misled  the people  to some extent.  The  Details of  information provided  by the PIO dated 19.12.19 is as follows.

Table-1

Total Budget  earmarked  by Govt. of Odisha for advertisement  of Govt. programme

                                                                                                                        ( In lakhs)

	Budget Provision 2017-18	Expenditure 2017-18	Budget Provision 2018-19	Expenditure 2018-19	Budget Provision 2019-20	Expenditure 2019-20 ( as on 31.10.19
Advertisement Electronics Media	11,97,00	11,68,74	100,00,00	99,75,88	11,28,00	9,33,21
Advertisement Print Media	30,97,58	30,06,58	126,85,00	126,13,25	25,00,00	14,80,42
Total	42,94,58	41,75,32	226,85,00	225,89,13	36,28,00	24,13,63

Table -2

Major advertisement  support  given to Print Media

                                                                                                            ( In Rs. )

Year	Dharitri	Prameya	Samaj	Sambad
2017-18	1,71,97,353.00	98,41,328.00	1,66,60,172.00	2,33,43,568.00
2018-19	4,57,72,772.00	4,46,40,507.00	4,94,73,769.00	5,90,83,354.00
2019-20 ( Till Nov.)	3,08,11,768.00	2,87,76,460.00	21,96,26,313.00	3,49,13,828.00
Total	9,37,81,893.00	8,32,58,295.00	28,57,60,254.00	11,73,40,750.00
Grand Total				58,01,41,192.00

Table-3

Details  of fund  disbursed  to Electronics Media for telecast of  different Govt. programme  by  Govt. of Odisha

                                                            ( Amount in Rs.)

Sl.No	Name of the Electronics  Media	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20 Dec.15
1	O TV	87,23,025.00
2	Kanak TV	66,06,350.00	5,17,90,885.00	92,89,716.00
3	News 7	68,89,561.00	5,15,69,198.00	1,13,45,550.00
4	Kalinga TV	65,33,243.00	6,18,36,815.00	1,22,73,541.00
5	MBC TV	59,19,349.00	5,73,66,810.00	97,79,477.00
6	ETV News Odisha / News 18 Odia	66,71,954.00	4,67,24,173.00	1,10,32,626.00
7	News World Odisha	70,53,139.00	5,73,70,354.00	1,30,93,924.00
8	Kamayab TV	55,44,402.00	71,90,363.00
9	Zee Kalinga TV /Z Odisha	53,38,770.00	11,06,05,776.00	70,02,359.00
10	Naxatra TV	71,85,743.00	77,14,729.00
11	DDK	43,06,250.00	1,24,61,429.00	79,94,517.00
12	Sarthak	70,42,907.00	2,96,18,839.00	19,24,167.00
13	Colors Odia	26,78,116.00	2,14,19,657.00	18,41,826.00
14	India TV	8,42,697.00
15	Aaj Tak	13,80,600.00	30,50,890.00	7,36,320.00
16	Times Now	14,01,840.00	1,87,65,540.00	8,09,952.00
17	AIR, CTC	62,07,292.00	2,70,23,679.00	40,52,773.00
18	Radio Chocolate	5,29,962.00	12,19,177.00	1,57,884.00
19	BIG FM	5,25,170.00	12,31,124.00	2,88,156.00
20	Red FM	4,91,689.00	10,05,519.00	2,64,154.00
21	Vodafone	50,39,594.00
22	Tarang TV		44,30,436.00
23	Alankar TV		19,57,971.00
24	Sadhana TV		3,35,100.00
25	Prathana TV		14,44,724.00
26	NDTV		3,36,98,735.00	2,62,668.00
27	CNN News 18		44,66,300.00	4,24,800.00
28	India Today		19,81,220.00	6,44,280.00
29	News X		9,79,400.00
30	ABP News		43,89,600.00
31	Zee News		3,11,520.00
32	News 18 India		29,50,000.00
33	NDTV India		15,72,468.00	1,01,704.00
		9,69,11,653.00	62,64,82,431.00	9,33,20,394.00

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date-21.12.19

5T is Farce in Home Dept. in True Sense , exposed under RTI

5T is Farce in  Home Dept. in True Sense , exposed  under RTI

( Saheed Nagar police Station)

Dear  friends

On 29.6.18, a band of  hooligans engaged  by former Corporator, Saheed Nagar of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation( BMC)  attacked  in night at 1 o’clock  Mrs. Ranjulata Mohapatra, ( M-9439393791) Woman Activist  and leading Slum-dwellers’ movement  for land rights in Bhubaneswar  in her home  using abusive language  and hackling her.  On 30.6.18.,  Smt. Mohapatra  filed an FIR  in Saheed Nagar police station  and  the police  registered  the case  No. 298/2018  under section 509/506/294/34 IPC.  But  nobody  was arrested by the police. Finding no justice from the police, then Smt. Mohapatra   approached to Odisha Human Rights and filed  a complaint against the inaction of the police. After  one year, on the basis  of police report, OHRC disposed  the case in November, 2019.

Then, Ranjulata Mohaptra filed RTI in  October , 2019  seeking details of  information about status  of her  case in Saheed Nagar police station.  On 8.12.19., the PIO has supplied  the  following  information  which exposed  how  police neglected  and suppressed  inquiry on heinous  crimes  and  extended  support to criminals.

a.    The IIC, Saheed Nagar reported that not a single person has been arrested  in Saheed Nagar PS Case No. 298/18.  Though one  and half year passed, the police  has not been able  to trace our  criminals  involved  in the incident  which  is  just  5 kms distance  from Saheed Nagar police stations.

b.   The IIC has further stated that the case is  still  under investigation. It  is astonishing  that  how the  police  could not  complete investigation within  one and half year. Forget  the fate  of woman victim.  This  5T  ( Mo Sarkar)  of Nabin patnaik  Govt.

c.    RTI query was also made to understand no. of FIRs lodged, no. of cases  in which investigation completed. The reply  is  horrible. This  information is  presented  below.

Sl.No	Year	Number of FIR registered	Number of final form submitted	Pending
1	2016	670	401	269
2	2017	601	223	378
3	2018	573	208	365
4	2019 Upto 30.11.19	637	125	512

Srikant Pakal

M-9338455092

Date-20.12.19

Memo submitted to Governor, Odisha seeking SIT Inquiry into murder of RTI Activist

To

Prof. Ganesh laljee

Hon’ble Governor, Odisha

Raj bhawan, Bhubaneswar

Sub- Seeking direction to State  Govt. for SIT Inquiry into  cold-blooded murder of  Sri Abhimanyu Panda, RTI Activist of Baliguda of Kondhamal district.

Sir

We, the  following signatories i.e, RTI Activists and Human Rights Activists  working  under banner  of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan ( a state-level forum spearheading campaign for effective implementation of RTI Act in Odisha)  bring  to    notice  of office of His Excellency   the incidence  of cold-murdered murder  of our RTI Activist  friend Sri Abhimanyu  Panda  for   necessary orders  to State Government.

1.   That, on 10.12.19.,  while the whole State was in mood of observing International Human Rights Day for cause of human rights,    the media  reported   about cold-blooded murder  of  Abhimanyu Panda,  age 58, RTI Activist  at his residence Baliguda ( around 300 kms from Bhubaneswar, capital of Odisha)   at  7.30  am  by two unidentified assailants. Immediately ,  a five-member team  of RTI Activists  of OSAA  visited  his house  at Baliguda  and  met  bereaved family members at  Bataguda, native  place, a 12 kms  distance  from Baliguda, sub-divisional headquarter of Kondhamal district .

2.   It is needless to mention here that  the incident occurred  just 30 ft away  from Baliguda police station. This  place  is very  populated  place  of  Baliguda township.

3.   During interaction with  family members, his wife  Chhabirani Panda  who is eye-witness of the incident  narrated  that “  at  around 7.30 am early morning a two  unknown persons came to their  residence  and asked  her  to meet  his  husband Abhimanyu Panda. Accordingly, she informed her husband and engaged herself in household works. After few  minutes  she  heard  about  heated  exchange  of  words  of  his husband  with  same  two persons and came out  from home  and found his husband’s body lying on the ground. She called family members and carried her husband  to Hospital where  doctored  declared  dead due to firing.”   On query  about  the  reasons and life threats, if any  to him, the  family member Santosh Padhi, his brother-in-law  appraised  the team   his work of RTI expose  about  mega scams  in  Sarangagada College , road construction  work  in Baliguda  under Executive Engineer, R&B, Phulbani, PDS  Scam in different blocks, huge irregularities  in management  of jagannath temple, threats  received by him  from  contractors, liquor mafia  and few  political  people  of ruling party.

4.   Getting clue from statement  of family members about  his RTI work, the  team members   inspected  in his  home details of files  containing  series of RTI Applications  submitted  to different  authorities and  complaints  filed  ( a) to District Superintendent  of Excise, Phulbani  against  proposal for opening  of off Liquor shop  in Ward No. 1 ( Khata No. 106/157, Plot No. 825/1112) resulted  in closing down  of liquor shop in Baliguda, ( b) Rs. 70 lakh scam in hostel construction work in  Sarangagada college ( allegation  against  Ashok Panda, Contractor), ( c) complaint  filed  to Executive Engineer, R& B, Phulbani on  huge irregularities in road  construction work  undertaken  by R.K.D. Construction Company , (d)  Action taken  by the  Endowment  Commission on  his complaint  against members of old Management Committee  of Jagannath Temple, Baliguda, subsequent  eviction of hew   shop owners  from shops  who had  illegally occupied shops  for  years together, ( e)  filling of  more than 50 RTI Applications to expose PDS Scam.  His  constant RTI Expose and follow up  activity  in form of filling  complaints  to appropriate  authorities  and  public interest litigation cases  in  High Court  has  posed  big threats  to business  of  powerful people  of that area , contractors  and  corrupt officials.

5.   As a  Whistle-blower,  Abhimanyu  had made relentless  fight  against  corruption and irregularities  in Govt. work  and  protected  public property. The  coteries  of corrupt people  affected  by  his  constant RTI work    conspired  to finish  him  and succeeded at  last. His death is a bog loss to RTI fraternity in our state.

6.   As we understand, the police is not conducting investigation properly. Though two days passed, the police is yet to find out the culprits.  The incidence took place just a few away distances from Baliguda police station.  The unholy alliance  of  local police  with  political people and  contractors, liquor mafia  of ruling  class  can not be   ruled  out . We also feel that the local police is hand in glove with the accused who are still moving scot free.

So, we feel it proper to draw attention of your good office and   seek direction to State Govt.  for   inquiry  by a Special Investigation Team ( SIT)  outside  of the  district.   A thorough investigation is highly required not only identify  the accused  but also  conspiracy behind  his murder.  Stringent  action should be  taken  against  the  culprits  and the people  behind  murder  of  Abhimanyu. We  also  request  you  to  please direct    Director General of Police to issue all  police  stations and  intelligence wing  to ensure  safety  of RTI Activists fighting  against  corruption and take prompt  action on FIR lodged  by RTI activists in different parts of the state. 

Thanking  you

Yours  sincerely

Pradip Pradhan and Members  of OSAA

State Convener

 M-9937843482

False promise of Chief Minister to revive Baragarh Sugar Mill

Lackadaisical attitude and False promise of Chief Minister to revive Baragarh Sugar Mill

(Exposed under RTI )

This is  an excellent  case  study  how  the poor farmers of  Baragarh  are betrayed, cheated  and reduced  to beggar  time and again by Nabin patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha

Dear friends

On 21.2.2019., while addressing farmers  in a public meeting  organized  on “Kalia Yojana” (  a fraud scheme and almost  going  to be closed  was made  to woo the farmers  for  vote  prior  to general election ) at Sohela  of Baragarh  district, the  Chief Minister  declared  a special package  Rs. 11 crore  for  revival  of  Sugar Mill. It  created  jubilation  among  the ill-paid employees of  the Mill  who had been  demanding  for payment  of  pending  salary  of 21 months  and staging demonstration  in front of assembly.

Out of curiosity  to  understand  execution of declaration  of Chief Minister by officials, RTI Application dt. 18.10.19 was filed  to Department  of Cooperation, Govt. of  Odisha  which was eventually transferred  to  the  office of  Registrar of Cooperative  Societies, Odisha seeking  information about  details of  employees of Baragarh Sugar Mill, special package  amount sanctioned   by Chief Minister  for  revival  of Mill, details of revival  plan of State Govt.

On 8.12.19.,  the PIO  supplied  the  following  information.

a.   There  are 203  employees (  both regular and contractual )  working  in Sugar Mill.

b.   The Mill  is  presently running with  loss  of Rs. 46.88  crores.

c.    Not  a single  pie  has been sanctioned by Chief Minister  under  Special Package  for  revival of sugar mill as declared in  Kalia samabesh at sohela on 21.2.2019.

d.    In 2016, the State  Govt. has engaged  N.S.I., Kanpur  to suggest  for revival  of  Sugar Mill.  This Institute  has   suggested  to constitute Ancillary  Unit   required  to revive the Mill.  Though 3 years have , the State  Govt.  is yet  to take  any steps  to revive  it.

It  shows  how  the  farmers  and employees  of  Sugar Mill  are  betrayed  and cheated  by State Govt.   Earlier, the State  Govt. has  closed down  Baragarh   Spinning  Mill now  has conspired  to close  down  Sugar  Mill  against  the  interest  of the  farmers. 

But  astonishingly, these  farmers   caste  their vote  to Nabin Patnaik , Chief Minister  to  come to power time and again.

As  I understand ,   Baragarh Cooperative Sugar Mill  is premier  sugar  mill  in western Odisha. It was established with mission to improve social and economic standard  of sugarcane growers of the western Odisha region. Due  to corruption and mismanagement ,  this Sugar Mill  is almost  defunct. The sugarcane  growers and employees   depending  on  sugar mill are  almost in starving  condition.

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date- 16.12.19

Memo to DG Police on Murder of Abhimanyu Death

To

Sri Abhaya, IPS                                                                                              Date- 12.12.19

Director General of Police

Govt. of Odisha

Cuttack

Sub- Seeking thorough, timely and effective investigation into gruesome murder of  Sri Abhimanyu Panda, RTI Activist of Baliguda of Kondhamal district.

Sir

We, the  following signatories i.e, RTI Activists and Human Rights Activists  working  under banner  of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan ( a state-level forum spearheading campaign for effective implementation of RTI Act in Odisha)  bring  to    notice  of your office  the incidence  of cold-murdered murder  of our RTI Activist  friend Sri Abhimanyu  Panda  for  your  urgent intervention and necessary  direction.

That, on 10.12.19.,  when   observation  of  International Human Rights day  was  in full swing across the  state,  the media  reported   about cold-blooded murder  of  Abhimanyu Panda,  age 58, RTI Activist  at his residence Baliguda ( around 300 kms from Bhubaneswar, capital of Odisha)   at  around  7.30  am  by two unidentified assailants. Immediately ,  a five-member team  of RTI Activists led by Pradip Pradhan, state  Convener along with Dr. Sibas Mohapatra, Sri Ziauddin, Jitendra Sahu  and Anjan  Rath  visited  his house  at Baliguda  and  met family members at  Bataguda, native  place, a 12 kms  distance  from Baliguda.

During interaction with  family members, his wife  Chhabirani Panda  who is eye-witness of the incident  narrated that “  at  around 7.30 am early morning a two  unknown persons came to their  residence  and asked  her  to meet  his  husband Abhimanyu Panda. Accordingly, she informed her husband and engaged herself in household works. After few  minutes  she  heard  about  heated  exchange  of  words  between his husband  and same  two persons and came out  from home  and found his husband’s body lying on the ground. She called family members and carried her husband  to Hospital where  doctored  declared  dead due to firing.”   On query  about  the  reasons and life threats, if any  to him, the  family member Santosh Padhi, his brother-in-law  appraised  the team   his work of RTI expose  about  mega scams  in  Sarangagada College , road construction  work  in Baliguda  under Executive Engineer, R&B, Phulbani, PDS  Scam in different blocks, huge irregularities  in management  of jagannath temple, threats  received by him  from  contractors, liquor mafia  and few  political  people  of ruling party.

Getting clue from statement  of family members about  his RTI work, the  team  inspected  in his  home details of files  containing  series of RTI Applications  submitted  to different  authorities and  complaints  filed  ( a) to District Superintendent  of Excise, Phulbani  against  proposal for opening  of off Liquor shop  in Ward No. 1 ( Khata No. 106/157, Plot No. 825/1112) resulted  in closing down  of liquor shop in Baliguda, ( b) Rs. 70 lakh scam in hostel construction work in  Sarangagada college ( allegation  against  Ashok Panda, Contractor), ( c) complaint  filed  to Executive Engineer, R& B, Phulbani on  huge irregularities in road  construction work  undertaken  by R.K.D. Construction Company , (d)  Action taken  by the  Endowment  Commission on  his complaint  against members of old Management Committee  of Jagannath Temple, Baliguda, subsequent  eviction of hew   shop owners  from shops  who had  illegally occupied shops  for  years together, ( e)  filling of  more than 50 RTI Applications to expose PDS Scam.  His  constant RTI Expose and follow up  activity  in form of filling  complaints  to appropriate  authorities  and  public interest litigation cases  in  High Court  has  posed  big threats  to business  of  powerful people  of that area , contractors  and  corrupt officials.

As a  Whistle-blower,  Abhimanyu  had made relentless  fight  against  corruption and irregularities  in Govt. work  and  protected  public property. The  coteries  of corrupt people  affected  by  his  constant RTI work    conspired  to finish  him  and succeeded at  last. His  death  is  a bog loss  to  RTI fraternity  in our  state.

As  we understand, the  police  is not  conducting investigation properly. Though two days  passed, the police  is yet  to  find out  the  culprits.  The incidence  took  place  just  a few  away  distance  from Baliguda police  station.  The unholy alliance  of  local police  with  political people and  contractors, liquor mafia  of ruling  class  can not be   ruled  out .

So,  we  feel  it  proper  to draw attention of  your  good office and   seek  direction for   inquiry  by a special team outside  of the  district  under your  direction supervision.  Stringent  action should be  taken  against  the  culprits  and the people  behind  murder  of  Abhimanyu. We  also  request  you  to  please issue  direction  to all  police  stations and  intelligence wing  to ensure  safety  of RTI Activists fighting  against  corruption and take prompt  action on FIR lodged  by RTI activists .  

Thanking  you

Yours  sincerely

Pradip Pradhan

State Convener

 M-9937843482