Around three months after the BMC floated tenders to appoint an agency for ‘reputation management’, it has finally appointed a firm, Sunjeet Communications Pvt Ltd, to spread its message and schemes on social media. The proposal to this effect will be tabled before the Standing Committee today, and the firm will be paid Rs 1.29 crore a year for the work it will do for the BMC.
The BMC is often at the receiving end of the Mumbaikars’ ire on social media, mainly due to potholes, water-logging, and other civic issues. For more than three years now, the BMC has been spending money on boosting public perception about itself. It is also making a big effort to reach out to the public on social media. In July 2019, the civic body handed a contract worth Rs 5.9 crore to S2 Infotech to handle its Twitter handles.
The BMC proposal said that since 2013, the Disaster Management Cell has been sharing monsoon-related information on Twitter. In 2019, the then civic chief Pravin Pardeshi directed his officials to share all public-related information on Twitter. “Considering this, the BMC has invited tenders from PR companies to make citizens aware about its schemes,” the proposal said.
The tenders were floated in October, the BMC received three bidders, of whom Sunjeet Communications emerged as the winner.
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BJP corporator Vinod Mishra slammed the move, saying money needs to be spent on road repairs and maintaining other amenities. “We will oppose the proposal,” he said.
