Maharashtra govt cancels order of Rs 6 crore for Dy CM Ajit Pawar’s social media handling

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has directed that there is no need to appoint an external mechanism to handle his social media accounts. The Deputy Chief Minister's Office does not feel the need for appointing an external agency work independently on social media, therefore the decision regarding the expenditure of around Rs 6 crore has been canceled.

Through the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations it is possible to carry out government public relations responsibilities, there is no question of delegating the responsibility of social media of the Deputy Chief Minister's Office to an external agency.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has also clarified that communication with the citizens and media will be maintained only through the existing public relations system. The decision to appoint an independent social media system for the office of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was issued on Wednesday. The order for appointing an external agency and allotting it a budget of Rs 5.98 crores was issued by RN Musale, under-secretary at the General Administration Department for the year 2021-22.

Now, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar himself has clarified that there is no need for an independent social media management system for his office.

BJP MLA, Ram Kadam criticised the move and said, “People have died in the pandemic due to the negligence of the Maharashtra government. On one hand, the government is saying that they don’t have enough money to purchase vaccines and on the other hand, to pat their backs on social media a team is hired for the deputy chief minister at a budget of Rs 6 crore.”