Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ event’s cost was estimated to be around Rs. 1.33 crores, not Rs. 133 crores

A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that the Uttar Pradesh government has allocated an amount of Rs. 133 crores for the ‘Deepotsav’ event at Ayodhya. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.

Claim: UP government’s budget for the ‘Deepotsav’ event at Ayodhya was Rs. 133 crores.

Fact: The UP government has estimated the cost of the ‘Deepotsav’ event to be around Rs. 1.33 crores, not Rs. 133 crores. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.

When searched about the issue on Google, it was found that even reputed news agencies [Times of India – Times Travel (Archived), Firstpost (Archived), Indian Express (Archived), The Quint (Archived), ABP News (Archived) and Live Hindustan (Archived)]  have published the same news.

But, a journalist has tweeted that the Uttar Pradesh has approximately spent only 1.33 crore for the Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ event and also, posted the photo of the press release.

So, when searched for the press release on the Uttar Pradesh government’s official website, it was found that the details of the funds estimated for the ‘Deepotsav’ event were in the 22^nd October press release. According to the press release, the Uttar Pradesh has estimated the cost of the ‘Deepotsav’ event to be around Rs. 132.70 lakhs (approximately Rs. 1.33 crores), not Rs. 133 crores.

Also, in this year’s UP budget, in the Tourism Department section, it can be found that the government has estimated the cost of the previous year’s ‘Deepotsav’ event to be Rs. 50 lakhs but later revised it to Rs. 46 lakhs. In this year’s budget, it can also be found that the government has estimated the cost to be around Rs. 100 lakhs (Rs. 1 crore) for this year’s ‘Deepotsav’ event.

To sum it up, Ayodhya ‘Deepotsav’ event’s cost was estimated to be around Rs. 1.33 crores, not Rs. 133 crores.

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