Media Misreports UP Govt’s Deepotsav Budget as Rs 133 Crore

The UP government’s press release mentioned that the amount allocated for the event was Rs 132.70 lakh.

CLAIM

Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya witnessed vibrant and extravagant Diwali celebrations, alias ‘Deepotsav’, on Saturday, 26 October. A new world record was made, over six lakh people lit up earthen lamps as part of the celebrations on the Saryu river bank on Diwali eve.

Several news organisations, including Quint Hindi, reported that the Uttar Pradesh government sanctioned an amount of Rs 133 crore for the event. The news outlets including The Indian Express, The Hindu, NDTV, National Herald, ABP News, OpIndia , Outlook were among the others.

Out of these outlets, NDTV and Outlook published news agency IANS’ feed.

WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

NDTV journalist Alok Pandey tweeted that the UP government had sanctioned Rs 1.32 crore and not Rs 133 crores for the event.

An update on a massively viral 'story' , that claims the @UPGovt spent 133 crore rupees on lighting diyas at Ayodhya . That amount is 1.32 crore rupees ! Looks like someone forgot to mention the (dot) in their story ! I read it first in a very reputed newspaper ! pic.twitter.com/k7npnJvPKt

— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) October 30, 2019

Meanwhile, the press release issued on 22 October mentioned that the amount allocated to the event was Rs 132.70 lakh, which is nearly Rs 1.33 crore.

Thus, news organisations falsely claimed that the Uttar Pradesh government sanctioned an amount of Rs 133 crore for the ‘Deepotsav’ event held in Ayodhya.

This story was first reported by Alt News.

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