Rail ad goof-up shows Delhi in Pak

KOLKATA, MARCH 20
In a major goof-up, an advertisement inserted in newspapers by the Eastern Railway showed Delhi in Pakistan and Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal.
The advertisement was to announce inauguration of luxury tourist train ‘Maharaja’s Express’ by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee from here.
A small box inside the advertisement panel showed the train route from Kolkata to Delhi via Gaya, Varanasi, Bandhabgarh, Khajuraho, Agra and Gwalior.
As the faint background of the outline of a small map of India showed Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal and Delhi in Pakistan, ER Chief Public Relations Officer Samir Goswami said, “It is a great mistake. We apologise for this. The advertising agency has been blacklisted.”
He said there was no mistake in the design approved by the Eastern Railway, which had given correct details to the advertising agency.
When contacted, owner of the advertising agency said the route alignment had been given for the benefit of passengers.
“The map and the alignment are an artist’s impression and not to scale. It is never our intention to create a controversy,” he said.
In similar faux pas, an advertisement in newspapers in January showed former Pakistan Air Chief Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed alongside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while the one issued in Pakistani newspapers yesterday by the police force in Punjab province featured the logo of its counterpart in India’s Punjab state.
Meanwhile, criticising the government for an advertisement of Indian Railways in which Delhi has been depicted in a map as part of Pakistan, BJP on Saturday said this was an affront to the country’s sovereign pride and demanded an apology from the prime minister.
“The Eastern Railway advertisement shows a map of India which is blatantly wrong. Kolkata has been shown in Bay of Bengal, Khajuraho is where Hyderabad should be… to top it all Delhi is shown in Pakistan. There cannot be a worse gross omission or commission by the government,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.
She accused the government of being careless and said this advertisement was an “affront to India’s sovereign pride”.
“Nothing short of an apology from the Prime Minister will do on this matter. This is not a one-off case,” Sitharaman said.
In similar faux pas, an advertisement in newspapers on January 26 showed former Pakistan Air Chief Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed alongside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.