KOCHI: THE 76-year-old state chief minister is no stranger to Twitter or Facebook. Using his personal and official handles, Pinarayi Vijayan addresses national and local issues on a daily basis. But his social media intervention comes at a high cost for the exchequer. For the four-month period between December 2019 and March, the state spent over Rs 36 lakh to maintain his official social media accounts and website.
As per a June 23 government order, the state has sanctioned Rs 36,07,207 to the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) for maintaining the chief minister’s official website and social media accounts.
“High amount is spent on the remuneration of professionals handling the CM’s official social media accounts and website. Currently, 12 persons handle the accounts and their manpower cost comes to over Rs 25 lakh,” said a C-DIT official.
The official accounts of the chief minister are very important for information dissemination as millions of people follow his Twitter and Facebook handles. “A dedicated team of experts are working for timely updation of the accounts,” the official said. The expenditure accounts show that Rs 1.83 lakh was spent for live streaming, Rs 36,667 for server administration and network security, Rs 1.1 lakh for development and data repository and Rs 73,333 as car hire charges.
“The rates are very high. There are professional agencies in the state which will be able to deliver the same results at much lower cost. A detailed audit should be done to unearth who is benefiting from such a high pay,” said the owner of an IT and social media marketing company.
“A rough estimate shows that the state is spending over Rs 1 crore in a year to upkeep the chief minister’s social media presence,” he said.