Govt ads taken off from many

The government advertisements have been removed from these billboards near Ruposhi Bangla Hotel on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue. The photo was taken yesterday. Photo: Anisur Rahman

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday rejected some ministers' requests for retaining until the next election the possession of the grabbed billboards in the capital advertising government's success stories.
She advised them to follow due procedures for using billboards to publicise the achievements of their ministries, said sources in the cabinet.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat, the prime minister said her government used the billboards for a week following discussions with the owners and advertisers.

A photo taken on August 5 shows government ads on the billboards. Photo: Anisur Rahman

Directives were given to remove the government advertisements after the expiry of the agreed period, and the billboard owners will be duly paid, Hasina told the cabinet.
However, State Minister for Housing Abdul Mannan Khan and Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan supported the idea of retaining the billboards until the next parliamentary polls.
They said it would be unwise to remove the government advertisements for fear of criticism. But the prime minister rejected their suggestions, said the sources.
Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, thanked BNP and a section of media for raising a hue and cry over billboards that eventually helped draw the attention of thousands of people to the contents of the billboards.
Following the meeting, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury told The Daily Star that her ministry owns several billboards that will be used for highlighting the ministry's successes.
Similarly, other ministries will highlight their successes according to the prime minister's suggestions, said Matia.
Meanwhile, workers of advertising firms were seen pulling down government advertisements from billboards in many areas of the capital in the wake of widespread criticism over the grabbing of billboards by the ruling party.
Some 200 of nearly 450 government advertisements will be removed from the billboards for now, said sources in advertising firms -- Spotlight Events and Apan Communications -- that replaced the original advertisements with government messages.
They said new advertisements with ministry logos and names will be put on the billboards later following due procedures.
Sources said the two firms illegally put the government advertisements on the billboards on the nights of August 4 and 5 with the help of some government high-ups and a government agency without permission from the authorities concerned.
Apan Communications, however, denied its involvement in it.
Around 250 billboards advertising the government's successes will remain for now. These billboards are owned either by ministries or advertising agencies of ruling party men.
As part of an aggressive campaign ahead of the national polls, the ruling party grabbed many billboards to highlight the government's achievements.
The owners of the billboards and the companies that advertised on the billboards were surprised to see their advertisements replaced by digital canvasses describing the government's successes. But they maintained silence for fear of reprisal from ruling party men.
At yesterday's cabinet meeting, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told his cabinet colleagues about his ministry's plan to conduct a mass campaign to highlight the government's successes.
The campaign will be launched under a project “Special Mass Awareness Campaign on Development Activities” through a weeklong fair in mid-September in the capital.
Apan Communications, a local company, has been awarded the project. It will organise road shows, fairs, photo exhibitions, screening of documentary films and cultural functions to make people aware of the present government's development works and Vision 2021.
Imdadul Haque Imran, coordinator of the mass campaign, said new advertisements will bear the logos of the information ministry and companies of the billboard owners, and also carry slogans like “four years of advancement” and “let's move ahead”.
He said they will put up festoons at all lamp posts in the city. “We will also put posters and hang banners in every corner of the capital to make people aware of the government's development activities.”
The information ministry will advertise the mass campaign in newspapers. And an advertisement with a theme song will also be broadcast on different TV channels, said Imran, also a former Chhatra League leader.