Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 21
Parliamentary Secretary for Information & Public Relations (I&PR) and Economics & Statistics, R Tohanba has informed that the IPR department has been initiating measures to streamline government advertisements issued to the local newspapers. Talking to mediapersons Friday last in his official chamber, the parliamentary secretary also said the department was working out means to hike the rate of government advertisements.
“It’s high time to hike the rate of government advertisements and I feel it is a must. The department is definitely exploring all possible ways to increase the rate of advertisement,” Tohanba said. However, he was unable give a definite timeframe when the hike would in effect.
The hike in rate of government advertisements, which has reportedly remained static for the last twenty years, will come as a relief to local newspapers presently straining under the burden of high cost of printing materials. IPR Director Imokokba and Joint Director Limawati Ao, who were also present, said although the Nagaland advertisement policy and rules were modified in 1984-85, many of the government departments were still not following the new policy.
“According to the new policy, all departments must route their advertisements through the IPR department so that the department can regulate the flow of advertisements and ensure equitable distribution of government advertisements to various newspapers, including vernacular, in the state”. But majority of the departments still continue to issue advertisements from their own end, ignoring the new modified policy, the IPR officials said.
The parliamentary secretary also concurred that the IPR department should be the nodal department for publicity and advertisement materials relating to dissemination of information and activities of various government departments. IPR officials also disclosed that the advertisement and publicity budget of the State IPR was meager compared to other states.
“Even the IPR department of a small state like Sikkim gets around Rs. 1.3 crore budget for publicity-related campaigns whereas the State IPR hardly gets Rs. 5-7 lakh,” the officials said.
On the upcoming programmes of the department, Tohanba said it has put up a proposal to uplink IPR as well as commission documentaries on selected subjects He also said that the offices of sub-divisional information officers (SDIO) of Dimapur and three new districts Longleng, Kiphire and Peren, would soon be upgraded to that of District Public Relations Officer (DPRO).
