State ministers blame babus for bad press

By and large, the cabinet members expressed the view that owing to lack of initiative and motivation, the DGIPR was unable to play a desired role despite the fact it is fully equipped with adequate manpower and latesttechnology.

Initially, Manohar Joshi himself was at the receiving end as most of the cabinet members felt that though he was incharge of the Information and Public Relations Department, it was not performing up to the mark. But when Joshi clarified that for last several months, Pramod Navalkar was at the helm of affairs, there was fresh attack on the DGIPR.

8220;These are the state of affairs of the DGIPR that even the cabinet members do not know who is the Minister for the Information and Public Relations Department,8221; a section of the ministers remarked at the marathon meeting.The contention of the ministers was that despite the fact that the alliance government had launched a series of welfare schemes, the DGIPR was unable to present them in a proper perspective before the fourth estate.

According to a senior Minister, after the alliance government came to power, its successfully stabilised the prices of five essential commodities, undertook a massive programmes to generate employment opportunities,launched the zhunka bhakar scheme, drafted a comprehensive action plan for implementing irrigation projects in a time bound period and the modernisation of the police force.

8220;I feel that the DGIPR has completely failed to meet the challenges. It has failed to project positive image of the government and above all, it reacts very slowly and on occasions, it does not react at all,8221; a senior Minister told The Indian Express.

The minister said most of the cabinet members feel that the entire department has become a white elephant and as such many of them have made alternate arrangements to interact with the members of the fourth estate.8220;Even the performance of the DLO Departmental Liaison Officer section is shocking. Beyond submitting the clipping of news papers, it is left with no other work. Barring a few DLOs, most of them rarely interact directly with the cabinet members,8221; the minister added. Citing a specific case, the minister said on Wednesday, the Credit Rating Information Services of IndiaLimited made adverse observations against the alliance government and particularly the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation. Though, a section of the news agencies flashed the report in the afternoon, there was absolutely no reaction from either the Director General, Director or for that matter from the DLO section. 8220;It was the responsibility of the DGIPR to immediately bring this news to the notice of the concerned secretary as well as the minister. But that was not done. The minister came to know of the development only after a scribe sought his reaction. I feel that this is the failure of the DGIPR. When it has been provided with the services of news agencies, it should have remained more alert than the newspaper,8221; he pointed out.

Giving one more example, the minister pointed out that the district news letters telecast by the Doordarshan are lack-lustre and do not give any information on the real development in the district. 8220;The news letter is prepared on the basis of the informationgiven by the District Information Officer. Very rarely they contain information on developmental projects. By and large, there is concentration on the irrelevant programmes and events,8221; the Minister observed.

The Minister said while Chief Minister Manohar Joshi is regularly briefing the media on cabinet decision, it was suggested that at least two senior cabinet members be authorised to address the media on behalf of the government.