The Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat, on Wednesday, took exception to the remark made by Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and the language used by him on its tender notice for hiring a social media agency for its outreach.

The LG Office called the choice of the words made by the minister is abusive, defamatory, misleading and patently false and the secretariat would take legal recourse in the matter.

The high officer’s secretariat has underlined that such statements coming from a minister that has spent Rs 1,900 crore of public money on advertising during 2019-2023, which included two years of severe financial distress due to the Covid pandemic, is laughably atrocious, and claimed that its publicity budget for the year 2023-2024, stood at Rs 557.24 crore.

According to the LG Office, the total amount spent on ads during five years of former CM Sheila Dikshit’s regime in 2009-2010 to 2013-2014 was a meagre Rs 87.5 crore in comparison to the Rs 1,900 crore of the present government.

It claimed that the Delhi government, on an average, has spent Rs 36 crore per month and Rs 1.2 crores per day on advertisements for personal glorification of its leader and its political party (AAP), even as Delhi has become a living hell in terms of pollution, health and civic infrastructure for its people.

The high officer’s office has called it ironical that such statements come from a minister of a government, claiming that it spends Rs 30 lakh per month over issuing press releases alone, Rs 14 crore annually to an agency for live streaming of its political programs, Rs 4 crore annually to a PR Agency and Rs 2 crore annually to a social media agency.

The LG secretariat said it is in the process of hiring a social media agency for managing its outreach as it deals with extremely important people oriented subjects that include housing, infrastructure development and upgradation of the city and its law & order, security and policing, while several more projects like development of green spaces, restoration of heritage, cleaning of drains, traffic/ parking management and pollution mitigation, village development, that require public participation and feedback.

The secretariat also serves as a forum for seamless coordination between multiple agencies and all of these require continuous interface and interaction with the people of Delhi, the LG office said.

It has also pointed out that in the prevailing days of fake news, misinformation and false propaganda the secretariat is also required to put out factual and correct information so as to counter misinformation, often played up on social media platforms by people with vested interests.

The tender to this effect, amounting to Rs 1.5 crores annually, has been transparently posted on relevant platforms and the above mentioned objectives and reasons for doing the same have also been outlined in the tender document, the LG office added.