NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry plans to set up more than 60 media units across the country that are expected to strengthen the Modi government’s outreach to smaller cities and rural areas in the run-up to the 2019 general election.This is the first time the ministry is planning to set up media units beyond the capital cities, officials said, pointing to Bhuj, Rohtak, Siliguri, Kochi, Korba and Muzaffarnagar, among other places, which they said minister Smriti Irani has identified for strengthening the government’s communication machinery.The new media units are likely to become operational in the next few months, well in time for the next general election, said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.These units are expected to run a structured eight-month campaign to highlight the Modi government’s achievements, the official said, such as its efforts to fine-tune the goods and services tax or GST regime, tackle non-performing assets of banks, quicken the pace of electrification, complete infrastructure projects, weed out corruption in high places and ensure direct benefit transfer of subsidies.Irani has spoken to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das, among others, to allot space for the proposed media units, officials said.In UP alone, seven media units are likely to come up, in places including Bareilly, Moradabad, Aligarh, Agra, Muzaffarnagar and the PM’s constituency, Varanasi, besides state capital Lucknow. States including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, MP, Bihar and Karnataka will have two centres each for the Centre’s media units, as per the plan, while nine centres will come up in states in the Northeast.The I&B ministry has already allocated funds to make the proposed media units operational, officials said. In each of the new media units, they said, there will be an electronic media monitoring centre which will look at the content in local newspapers and TV channels and send updates to the head office in Delhi.The ministry also plans to set up a social media communication hub in every state across the country that will report local events to ministry officials.Seven senior officers of director general level will be stationed in Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Bhopal, Mumbai, Chennai and Imphal to monitor flow of information in their respective zones, as per the plan.The emphasis will be on flow of communication in regional languages, which will now include, apart from Hindi and Urdu in northern states, Dogri, Garhwali, Santhali, Bhojpuri, Maithali and Konkani, officials said.Seven senior officers who were handling media-related work in the capital for ministries have been chosen to head the new media units and oversee dissemination of the government's communication to the remotest areas. This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s mandate to “not just have governance in place but also keep the citizens informed about its policies”, the official cited earlier said.Several other officials posted in the capital and existing media units of the government in other cities have been transferred to other parts of the country in the past two months. The I&B ministry saw the transfer of 20 IIS (Indian Information Service) officers last month, after two dozen officers were transferred in the previous month, and many more are expected to be relocated in the coming days.Irani wants to break the “stagnancy” in media units across the country, another official said, although the main purpose behind the transfers is said to be the merging of several existing departments of the media units to “streamline and disseminate information”.“The minister has noticed that fresh energy needs to be infused into these units so that existing cliques of people working against the government or stalling communication can be checked,” the official said. “A fresh map was drawn where she identified the places that need stronger communication in the coming days and then selected people accordingly to handle the new tasks.”Under the new system, according to the plan put together by Irani and I&B secretary NK Sinha, the Press Information Bureau will not only handle all issues of communication but also those related to the Registrar of Newspapers for India, Cable Television Network and the monitoring by Electronic Media Monitoring Centres. The Directorate of Field Publicity will also handle issues related to the Directorate of Advertising and Publicity and the Publications Division. “Heads of newspapers will no longer have to travel to Delhi to get their issues sorted. They can go to the district offices,” an official said.I&B ministry officials have dismissed complaints of a section of IIS officers who alleged that transfers were taking place without any consultation and that some senior officers were transferred to stations where the posts allotted to them did not exist or that multiple officers were assigned the same role.Officials said five meetings were held with officers involved in government communication to know their location preferences. Irani was keen that government officials who have been posted in the Northeast or other far-flung areas also get a choice of location, a person aware of the matter said.“Some people don’t want to leave Delhi while several others have never been posted in cities. The minister felt that should end. At least five cases where the person was close to retirement or cases where the officer was unwell or had a child with dyslexia were looked at and the transfers were stopped,” the person said on condition of anonymity.Suitability has been the key governing principle behind the transfers, the person said. “If a certain officer has had years of experience working in the RAW and home ministry, he was seen as most suited to handle the North-eastern states where internal security is a grave concern. In another case, an officer from Election Commission has also been asked to handle finance as he already had experience in the area in his earlier years,” he said.