After facing criticism from Opposition BJP as state battles COVID-19 crisis, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said that there is no need to appoint an external agency to handle the social media accounts of the Deputy Chief Minister’s Office.
The Maharashtra government had earmarked nearly ₹6 crore for the handling of social media accounts of Pawar.
The Deputy CM also said that the order in this regard should be cancelled immediately.
In a statement, Pawar’s office has also clarified that communication with the citizens and media will be maintained only through the existing public relations system.
Pawar said that the directorate general of information and public relations will deal with social media and hence an external agency is not needed.
Maharashtra’s DGIPR department has a staff of nearly 1,200 and an annual budget of ₹150 crore.
The external agency was directed to handle Ajit Pawar’s Twitter, Facebook, blogger, YouTube and Instagram accounts including handling of Soundcloud, a WhatsApp bulletin, Telegram channel and SMS.
“While it is possible to carry out the responsibility of government public relations through the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR), there is no question of delegating the responsibility of social media of the Deputy Chief Minister’s Office to an external system,” Pawar said in a statement.
Surjitt Sahani
