The name-only newspapers received a huge chunk of public money allocated for publishing government advertisements and supplementary during the tenure of the last BNP-Jamaat alliance government.
Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad disclosed it in the parliament yesterday while replying to a query of a lawmaker.
The information minister placed a list before the House that showed that the BNP-led government spent over TK 104 crore during its five-year tenure over the purpose of advertisements in as many as 177 daily newspapers published from Dhaka.
Most of those newspapers exist only in names but devoured major portion of the allocation, thanks to the 'generosity' of the information ministry and its crooked officials.
These dishonest officials opened the floodgates of opportunity for name-only newspapers depriving mainstream national dailies.
There is also widespread allegation against the information ministry officials that they indulged in such malpractices under the table.
Apart from this, the then government also spent around TK. 5 crore to publish its advertisements and supplementary in 243 newspapers published from outside of Dhaka
Some weekly, fortnightly and monthly magazines both from Dhaka and different parts of the country also received quite a good segment of the allocation.
In replying to a lawmaker's query, Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad placed the list before the House showing categorically which newspaper got how much.
The information minister, however, claimed the advertisements were given to the newspapers as per the advertisement rules of 1987.
The list shows that daily Inquilab got the highest amount of allocated money of TK 7.87 crore, BNP's mouthpiece Dinkal TK.6.64 crore, mouthpiece of Jamaat-e-Islami Sangram TK 5.29 crore, Ittefaq TK 5.87 crore, Jugantar TK 4.21 crore, Manabjamin TK 4.67 crore, Prothom Alo TK 2.31 crore, Ajker Kagoj TK 2.36 crore, Sangbad TK 2.09 crore, Khabarpatra, owned by Hafiz Ibrahim, elder brother of controversial businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun, TK 2.05 crore, and Bhorer Kagoj TK 2.16 crore.
Among the English dailies The News Today received the highest allocation of TK 2.34 crore, The Independent TK 2.28 crore, The Daily Star TK 1.58 crore, The New Age TK 1.10 crore, The Bangladesh Today TK 1.00 crore, The Financial Express TK 1.27 crore, and The New Nation TK 1.65 crore.
Of the name-only Bengali dailies Matribhumi received TK 1.11 crore, Desh Janata TK1.09 crore, Samachar TK 1.44 crore, Ajker prottasha TK 1.09 crore, Banner TK 39.19 lakh, Shakti TK 63.84 lakh, Amal TK 44.72 lakh, Jalchhap TK 35.37 lakh, Biral TK 26.54 lakh, Prithibir Alo TK 19.30 lakh, Natun Alo TK 34.27 lakh, Chobbish Ghonta TK 28.42 lakh, Shuvadin TK 26.09 lakh, Kishan TK 42.04 lakh, Desher Chithi TK 13.23 lakh, Manobik Barta TK 19.68 lakh, Crime News TK 16.54 lakh, Ojana TK 4.55 lakh, and Fasal TK 30.91 lakh.
Among the name-only English dailies Good Morning got TK 60.47 lakh, Capital News TK 53.14 lakh, The Daily News Line TK 21.89 lakh, The Evening News Tk 7.70 lakh, The Capital Views TK 24.35 lakh and The Muslim Times TK 1.45 lakh.
Among the local newspapers Jessore-based Lok Samaj, owned by former minister Tariqul Islam, got the highest amount of money of TK 67.99 lakh, Chittagong-based Karnofuli, loyal to Jamaat-e-Islami, TK 55.17 lakh.
In replying to the lawmakers' queries, the information minister said the current government believes in free flow of information.
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