The spending, largely routed through the Information and Public Relations Department, was more than the roughly Rs 1.5 crore that the Union government spent on advertising each day over 11 years, the report said.
New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government spent Rs 6,811.94 crore on advertising and publicity between 2017-18 and 2024-25, averaging about Rs 2.32 crore a day, according to expenditure figures in the state government’s budget documents, Newslaundry has reported.
The spending, largely routed through the Information and Public Relations Department, was more than the roughly Rs 1.5 crore that the Union government spent on advertising each day over 11 years, the report said.
The expenditure increased during chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s tenure, with the exception of 2020-21, when it fell during the pandemic. It subsequently rose to more than Rs 1,000 crore a year, the report said.
In 2017-18, the department spent Rs 294.86 crore on publicity. This rose to Rs 330 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 481.67 crore in 2019-20. Spending fell to Rs 392.88 crore in 2020-21 before increasing to Rs 1,134.31 crore in 2021-22.
The expenditure reached Rs 1,420.03 crore in 2022-23, the highest in the available data. It stood at Rs 1,366.34 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 1,391.18 crore in 2024-25.
More than 83% of the expenditure during the eight-year period was under the “advertising and visual publicity” head. This accounted for Rs 5,658.16 crore and covered spending on newspapers, television and other media. The annual expenditure under this head rose from Rs 236.33 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 1,205.06 crore in 2024-25. It stood at Rs 951.75 crore in 2021-22 and reached Rs 1,158.06 crore in 2022-23….
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After the truth-shower 