By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The former BJD Government in Odisha led by Ex Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his trusted Tamil lieutenant VK Pandian flooded funds to make film and news documentary to highlight Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Sundargarh, Lower Saktel-Gangadhar Meher Irrigation Projects in Western Odisha, BSKY and 5T School Transformation between January 2023 to March 2024.
According to information provided to RTI activists Tanay Mohanty, National Geographics India Pvt Ltd took above Rs 4.20 Crore and Times Network had taken Rs 47, 79 Lakhs to Advertise through Documentaries Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium, Lower Saktel-Gangadhar Meher Irrigation Projects, BSKY and 5T School Transformation between January 2023 to March 2024, and different Newspapers takes Rs 2.32 Crore for the same to publish advertorials, Prasant Kumar Meher, PIO(Nodal), cum under-secretary to Government in Information and Public Relations Department.
These two channels got around Rs 4.68 Crore between January 2023 to March 2024, and different Newspapers takes Rs 2.32 Crore for the same to publish advertorials, months before the general elections where BJD voted out of power in Odisha while securing only 51 MLA seats and could not open its account in Lok Sabha with Zero out of 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha.
