The BJP government in Assam led by Sarbananda Sonowal spent Rs 82.59 crore on newspaper advertisements in five years between 2016 and 2021.
Information & Public Relations (IPR) Minister Pijush Hazarika informed the Assam assembly on Wednesday while replying to a query by All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Karim Uddin Barbhuya.
Minister Hazarika said that those advertisements were published in Assam’s 41 newspapers of various languages.
To a related question, the minister said that the IPR department has empanelled 13 newspapers in the Assamese language, followed by nine in English, and six each in Bangla and Hindi.
He said that the government does not have any mechanism to cross-check the circulation figure stated by the management of the papers, but it is under consideration now.
“There is no policy to collect the GST from the newsprint required for publishing the papers. However, the government is considering this option,” Hazarika added.