DIPR, a den of vice

When in Opposition, YSR raised a hue and cry over CM Babu's publicity spend. As CM, YSR is allowing crores of rupees to be swindled by the DIPR officials. We take a look at how some Kings are making a Fortune at DIPR

Corruption in India is nothing new. We are at the top of the index when it comes to the most corrupt countries in the world. Our state has been no better and ACB raids have become a part of our daily staple of news.
But there is one department that bakes the cake, takes it, eats it and then sometimes develops an upset stomach. The institution that we are talking about is the Directorate of Information and Public Relations or DIPR for short.

Over the years this building located near JNTU on the Lakdikapul - Masab Tank road has become a fountainhead of corruption. The rot set in quite a long time ago, and if one can jog the memory it was the likes of men like the now dead, self-proclaimed Ghazal Gandharva, IAS officer Muralikrishna who laid the ground rules. He was known for promoting himself over low profile CMs of those days (early 90s).
Anyone willing to feature him any media was given a handsome baksheesh. But dead men tell no tales.

The sorry state of affairs continued but it really peaked during the tenure of the CBN. Exorbitant amounts were spent on publicity of pet programmes like Janmabhoomi. YSR and his team during the day in Opposition alleged that CBN spent over Rs 300 crore for self- publicity.
While that figure is an exaggeration, money was no doubt poured into different modes of publicity from Janmabhoomi caps, posters and short films (produced by favourites like midas man Raghavendra Rao) and of course ads in newspapers and spots on television channels.

DIPR is a much sought after place for AP state service cadre officers who pay a fortune to the mandarins at the Secretariat to make it there. One can gauge the level of corruption by assessing the properties held by these people in their name and benami. One such man whom we can identify as an ex Andhra Jyothi employee, is the 'King' Babu. He was the right hand man of many I&PR ministers, but he made his real kill during the tenure of ministers like Tammineni Sitaram and Chandramohan Reddy. This man came up the hard way by working out as a hotel boy in Vijayawada before finding a job as typist in a newspaper there. Using the gift of the gab, he moved up to land up in Hyderabad.

Tales abound in the money that was made in how he used to order lakhs of Janmabhoomi caps, of which only a small fraction was actually delivered to those who were supposed to wear it. The district level information and public relations officer were instructed to sign off for non-existent caps. Ditto was the case with lakhs of posters, while in reality only a few thousands were printed.

The big printing houses, which incidentally are located near DIPR office made crores of rupees in this affair. Eighteen rounds of Janmabhoomi proved to be a windfall for many of these officers.
Police once caught the 'King' Babu during a random nakabandi near Lakdikapul while he was couriering a huge amount of cash to his minister. A few phone calls later, cops were asked to let the man go, and forget about the incident.
He managed to get a land in the Journalist's colony during his tenure at AJ and later did up the house in a royal manner thanks to the 'income' he made at DIPR. Like other officers in the government he has invested huge amounts of money in land and jewellery.

Another man in the money-making business at DIPR was 'Fortune' Kumar. This man was a charmer who managed to keep his job despite numerous memos and show cause notices that he managed to accumulate during his tenure. His mode of making money was in getting the payments released for a consideration. Short films, which cost a few thousands to make were billed at lakhs. Bills for Republic Day floats in Delhi were often cleared after the money was paid to the DIPR pointsman at Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi.

Did the IAS officers who manned the department turn a blind eye to all these happenings? There were some who tried to clean up the Augean stables, but were stumped by the 'powerful' connections of these officers. B P Acharya did his bit by bringing in some transparency to the department. So did J C Mohanty, who has since quit IAS tried his best to keep these characters under check, and was roundly hated by DIPR staff. S Balasubramanyam made himself scarce, while Ramanachary was busy promoting himself as a filmstar in the making.

At DIPR, everyone right from the top people like directors to the office boys have to be bribed to secure business and get payments. If you don't pay, then advertisements are not released and bills of publications or television channels that don't pay go missing or are held back.
It's the decision to release advertisements that often results in 'cash for ads' scam. During CBNs time, over 140 publications in the state were handed out ads at one single go on a single day, many times over. 140 newspapers in AP? That's only on paper. Most of them are dummy ones, which print 50 copies of their rag, which many land up in the offices of the CM, Ministers and DIPR. Nobody reads them and these so called newspapers used by visitors to fan themselves while they wait for their turn to meet the biggies.

The cake is taken by over twenty-five odd Urdu publications all of which claim that they are printed from Hyderabad. In fact all these so called Urdu publications are printed in the same press. A closer look at the bills from these newspapers will reveal that the layout is same, and only the masthead is changed. For sheer ingenuity, it's a scam that beats other scams hollow.

YSR on assumption, promised to change all that was happening at DIPR, but nothing much has changed. The new dispensation led by Minister Shabbir Ali is turning a blind eye on the happenings in his own backyard. The Minister too has fallen for the lucre, and has issued 'special' orders that the 'Urdu' newspapers have to get advertisements on a 'regular' basis. All they have to make sure is to flash the minister's picture on their front pages.
It's a case of you scratch by back, I will scratch yours. The thumb rule that only publications with certificates given by Audit Bureau of Circulation are to be considered for releasing of ads has been often given a go by. This suits the team at DIPR fine as they can decide on
publications based on the level of greasing of their palms. Small time newspapers, which survive on a hand to mouth existence will go to any extent to get business.

There are many other corrupt officials whom we have ignored for now. But they will not be able to hide for long. We will also bring them to book, with documented proof. Remember, you guys at DIPR can run, but you cannot hide. We will smoke you out.

Will things change at DIPR? Highly unlikely, say those in the media industry. Unless those on the present dispensation are sacked or transferred, and a professional system of working is inculcated, DIPR will continue to be a den of vice.

PS: To get the actual names of some of the people mentioned above, just substitute the English words in their names with the Urdu or Hindi equivalents. QED