Political necessity: Govt spent Rs113m on media campaign

The funds were provided with CM’s approval.

LAHORE: The Punjab government spent Rs113.4 million on a publicity campaign during the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) long-march and sit-in, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The funds were released by Finance Department during November 2014 as a supplementary grant, a document obtained by The Express Tribune revealed. The PTI had started its Azadi March on August 14 from Lahore. Imran Khan had criticised the federal and Punjab governments’ performance.

The Punjab government had run a publicity campaign to highlight its development projects. “To finance the publicity campaign, the Information Department moved six summaries to the chief minister, seeking Rs113.4 million. The summaries were approved by the chief minister during the second half of November. The Finance Department released the payments to the advertising agencies,” a Finance Department official, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune. Information Department Parliamentary Secretary Rana Muhammad Arshad said that funds had been used to promote a positive image of the government. “In future, the use of such funds will be rationalised,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2015.