1.33 crore rupees have been spent for the “Deepotsav” program in Ayodhya

On 29^th October 2019, a Facebook user named “Vijay Pratap Singh” posted on Facebook. The title of the post read “If the news is to be believed, 6 lakh earthen lamps were lit on Deepotsav in Ayodhya and around Rs.133/- crores were spent. The cost of each earthen lamp is about Rs. 2217/-. Once again, Greetings for Deepawali, Gowardhan Puja and Bhaiyadooj”.

Sharing this post on social media, it is being claimed that the UP government has allocated an amount of Rs. 133/- crores for the ‘Deepotsav’ program in Ayodhya. Around 4 lakh diyas /earthen lamps were lit using this amount, which means that a lamp has been purchased for about Rs. 2218/-.

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This post is being spread on social media with different statements.

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When we searched on Google about this issue, we found that many reputed News agencies have also published the same news.

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We started the investigation on the official website of the Uttar Pradesh government by searching for the press release related to “Deepotsav”. As a result, we found the details of the estimated amount for the purpose of organizing “Deepotsav” in the press release of 22^nd October 2019. According to the press release, the Uttar Pradesh government had estimated the cost of the “Deepotsav” program to be around Rs 132.70/- lakhs (around Rs 1.33/-crore). Here clearly the estimated cost of the Deepotsav is Rs 132.70/- lakhs (around Rs 1.33/- crores) and not 133/- crore rupees. As you may see, this figure was written in “lakhs”, but has been widely misreported in “crores”.

After this we found the budget list of Uttar Pradesh. In this year’s UP budget, under the tourism department section, it can be seen that the government had estimated the cost of the last year’s “Deepotsav” program to be Rs 50/- lakh but later it was reduced to Rs. 46/- lakh after revision. In this year’s budget, it can be seen that the estimated cost of the “Deepotsav” program given by the government was Rs. 100/- lakh rupees (1 crore rupees).

According to the tweet by ANI UP, 5.5 lakh earthen lamps were lit in “Deepotsav”.

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Conclusion: We found the above post wrong after checking the facts. The estimated cost of the “Deepotsav” program in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, was Rs 1.33 crore, which is being wrongly spread and misreported as the figure of Rs 133/- crore.