JOIN USTMC files RTI application regarding UP government's advertisement
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has filed a RTI query seeking to know whether the final copy of the advertisement of the Uttar Pradesh government published on Sunday in an English daily, which featured a flyover in Kolkata was approved by the Uttar Pradesh government before it was published.
The RTI application filed by TMC leader Saket Gokhale also sought to know from the Uttar Pradesh government the name and details of the official or committee which approved the advertisement published on September 12 in the Indian Express.
“Please state whether the final copy/proof of the aforementioned advertisement/advertorial published in the Indian Express on Sunday 12th September, 2021 was approved by the UP Govt before publishing/release. If yes, please state the name and details of the relevant official/committee that approved the final proof copy for publishing in the Indian Express on Sunday 12th September, 2021,” stated the RTI application.
Gokhale also sought to know whether a “sample advertisement/advertorial and other such guidelines” were provided to the related newspaper by the Uttar Pradesh government for publishing an advertisement titled “ Transforming Uttar Pradesh Under Yogi Adityanath.
He also wanted to know whether the creative, images and copy of the advertisement were chosen by the Uttar Pradesh government or left at the discretion of the Indian Express.
Gokhale further stated in his tweet that people need to “ stand up if the media is being bullied.”
TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said “ it is rather doubtful whether such an advertisement by the Uttar Pradesh government on the development of the state was published without the prior approval of government officials. This is the reason why the RTI application was filed.”
“A wrong image was inadvertently included in the cover collage of the advertorial on Uttar Pradesh produced by the marketing department of the newspaper. The error is deeply regretted and the image has been removed in all digital editions of the paper,” the Indian Express tweeted on Sunday.
The advertisement showed a picture of Kolkata’s Maa flyover and also a yellow taxi, typical of the city plying on it. Soon after it was pointed out by twitter users TMC’s national general secretary and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee took pot shots at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
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