Directorate of Public Relations Govt of Chhattisgarh Raipur Rebuttal of Indian Express News As reaction on being denied advertisement on the

occasion of State Rajyotsav 2012, Indian daily Indian Express in its December 7, 2012 issue had accused the media and published an article Express Exclusive: Chhattisgarh Government pays for all the TV news that is fit to buy. The article mentions names of many esteemed news channels and speaks about the proposal and sanction of advertisement between Sahara Samay and Chhattisgarh govt. But, it lacks information on sanction of advertisement to the Indian Express by the state government. Chhattisgarh government has time and again obliged The Indian Express by sanctioning advertisements worth Rs 54.50 lakh. The details of the advertisement sanctioned to the newspaper by the state govt. are as follows: Advertisement of Rs 3 lakh 57 thousand 820 was given to the newspaper on 19-07-2010, Rs 8 lakh 66 thousand 590 of advt. was given on 27-92010, Rs 66,290 of advertisement on 5-5-2011, Rs 6,59,683 of advt. on 12-92011,Rs 15 lakh of advt on 31-10-2011, Rs 7,42,896 of advt on 6-8-12 and Rs 15 lakh of advt was given to the newspaper on 27-9-2012 . Apart from this, the Public Relations department in the year 2011 and 2012-13 had rendered advertisement of over Rs 42 lakh through tender process and approx. 4 lakh 44 thousand rupees advertisements of various departments through Samvad. Also classified advertisement of Rs 40 lakh has been sanctioned to the newspaper. By publishing such fictitious articles, the management of The Indian Express wants to convey that Chhattisgarh government often oblige media to write a positive story by giving advertisements to them. It seems that the newspaper has published the said article out of frustration as the government has sanctioned Rs 15 lakh advt instead of Rs 22 lakh three-page advertisement on 12-10-2012, instead of Rs 18lakh the government sanctioned Rs

15 lakh of advt. on 14-5-2012 and the proposal of advertisement of Rs 27 lakh on the occasion of 69th foundation day of Indian Express was rejected by the government. Various proposals like advertisement for special edition Best of India 2011 on 232-2011 and others were rejected as they were not relevant for the state government. No advertisement is given for publication of news neither in print media nor in electronic media. The Public Relations department only gives advertisements related to people welfare schemes, success story, special article, advertorial, special program after receiving a written proposal from a newspaper/electronic media. All the advertisements if found in the welfare of people are sanctioned as per the advertising polices of the state government.