Himanta govt spent Rs 370 cr on advertisements in last four fiscals: Minister

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's government has spent over Rs 370 crore on advertisements in the last four fiscals, Information and Public Relations Minister Pijush Hazarika informed the assembly on Wednesday.

On the other hand, the state government led by Sarbananda Sonowal, who was the chief minister of Assam from 2016 to 2021, had spent Rs 125.6 crore in the five fiscals since 2016-17 on advertisements, Hazarika said.

In a written reply to Congress MLA Abdul Batin Khandakar, Hazarika said the present BJP government has spent a total of Rs 372.33 crore during the last four financial years since 2021-22 on advertisements in print, electronic and outdoor media.

Sarma took charge as the chief minister of the second BJP-led Assam government in May 2021.

The year-wise figures shared for both the regimes showed that the Sonowal government in 2020-21 had spent Rs 30.24 crore, which jumped to Rs 72.83 crore in the next year after Sarma assumed charge for the second NDA dispensation in the state.

In the succeeding period, the Sarma government increased the advertisement expenses every year with Rs 78.85 crore in 2022-23 and Rs 160.92 crore in 2023-24, the assembly was informed.

However, Rs 59.72 crore has been used for different types of advertisements by the government till now in the 2024-25 fiscal, Hazarika said.

In a separate reply to a query from Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi, the minister said that the Assam government had spent Rs 18.58 crore on advertisements in 2015-16, the last fiscal of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi's regime before he was replaced by Sonowal.

Immediately next year, the advertisement spending of the Sonowal government soared to Rs 26.88 crore, the reply document showed.