GUWAHATI, March 22 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi reviewed the performance of the Information & Public Relations Department at a meeting with senior officials at his official residence last evening.
Chief Minister Gogoi asked the department to gear up publicity in a big way and to disseminate information about the slew of government schemes to the beneficiaries through the district information and public relations offices.
Gogoi asked the department to come up with a media policy encompassing all publicity-related aspects. He asked the Additional Chief Secretary to coordinate with all the departments and collect material for dissemination among the people. An order to this effect would be issued by the Chief Minister�s Office. It was decided at the meeting that an ADC would be put in charge of each of the media publicity cells in all the districts.
Gogoi asked the officials of the department to ensure distribution of Raijor Batori, a weekly newspaper, to the panchayats, schools, colleges, anganwadi centres etc. He directed the department to prepare an action plan for putting up hoardings across the State.
The Chief Minister said the Mukyamantrir Sabdajyoti Achoni was a good scheme aimed at honing the oratorical skills of the school students and added that more funds would be allocated for bringing more schools under the scheme.
Chief Minister Gogoi said funds would be no constraint in carrying out publicity campaigns through various fora. In this context, he said that necessary orders would be issued making it mandatory for all departments to allocate at least two per cent of their allocations to the Information & Public Relations Department for publicity campaigns.
The meeting discussed at length how to carry out a massive awareness campaign on government policies and schemes.
The meeting was attended among others, by Additional Chief Secretary, Information & Public Relations Department Bhaskar Mushahary, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister MGVK Bhanu, Secretary, Information & Public Relations Department Donald Gilfillon and Director, Information & Public Relations Department Ranjit Gogoi, said an official release.
