Payment of advertisement bills to be made within 10 days of receipt of bills: Govt

SRINAGAR, SEPTEMBER 15: The Government has ordered that the payment of advertisement bills of the newspapers shall be made within 10 days after the receipt of bills.

According to an order issued by the Commissioner Secretary Information, Mr M H Malik, the payments to the newspapers shall be made online by the respective Joint Directors of Information, Kashmir/Jammu who have been already designated independent controlling authority for the release of government advertisements and the payments thereof.

The decision to decentralize advertisement distribution was recently taken on the initiative of Minister for Information, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, and accordingly by virtue of Govt Order No: 32-ID of 2017 dated: 08-09-2017, the provincial Joint Directors of Information in Jammu/Kashmir divisions were vested with the controlling and regulatory powers in this regard.

Pertinently, 467 newspapers and periodicals including 271 in Jammu and 196 in Kashmir division are presently empanelled with DIPR for release of government advertisements.

The DIPR released a payment of around Rs 31 crore to the newspapers and periodicals on account of advertisements during the fiscal 2016-17, including past liabilities, while for the current financial year the advertisement budget is to the tune of Rs 30 crore.

To ensure judicious distr   ibution of the government advertisements in light of the Advertisement Policy 2016, the Government has recently constituted a Committee headed by Joint Director Information (Headquarters) for categorization of the approved newspapers and periodicals on the basis of their circulation and other parameters including institutional framework and professional standards.

The Government is also in the process of formulating a separate advertisement policy for the electronic and the digital media.