GPS-based system to track 'Bharat Nirman' hoardings

New Delhi: To keep a track of hoardings put up to highlight the UPA government's achievements, the I&B Ministry has decided to use a GPS-based system in the next phase of 'Bharat Nirman' campaign which is expected to take off in the first half of August.

The Department of Audio Visual Publicity is shortlisting firms that can provide state-of-the-art technology to set up the GPS-based system for outdoor publicity, officials said. This is the first time that a comprehensive mechanism is being set up to monitor and assess all the high profile campaigns for the first time, they said.

The move comes as it was difficult to ascertain whether hoardings put up had been positioned at the assigned places. With the installation of GPS enabled antennae on top of the hoardings, I&B officials would be able to know the exact location of these ad hoardings.

The officials said I&B Minister Manish Tewari in the earlier phase of Bharat Nirman had formed teams and assigned roles to different departments to monitor the roll out of the campaign. While the Press Information Bureau was utilising its offices in various regions to monitor the campaign at field level, the Research Reference and Training Division was monitoring the campaign online.

The audio visual roll out of the campaign was constantly under the watch of the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre, while Broadcasting Engineering Consultants India Ltd was assigned to follow the campaign on FM Radio.

"The idea is to ensure that each rupee meant for Bharat Nirman is well spent," Tewari said when contacted.

He said a date is yet to be finalised for the next phase of Bharat Nirman campaign but added that it is expected to begin in the "first fortnight of August." Tewari further said the next phase of the campaign would specially focus on the qualitative aspects of programming in the regional languages.

Meanwhile, officials said the I&B Ministry has also decided to carry out a detailed evaluation of the previous phase of the campaign to identify the mediums which were most cost effective and also the most popular messages.

The process for planning audio visuals for Bharat Nirman is currently under way and various ministries have been written to apprise the I&B ministry of their "success

stories".

The campaign is likely to have over a dozen audio visuals in the next phase. The coming phase of the Bharat Nirman campaign assumes much importance as the government intends to highlight its achievements to the people before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.