India embarrassed by ad that puts its capital in Pakistan

[Neo]

India embarrassed by ad that puts its capital in Pakistan

March 22, 2010

AN ADVERT for a new luxury train service has embarrassed India's rail ministry by placing the country's capital, New Delhi, inside Pakistan.

Other gaffes made in announcing the inaugural run of the Maharajas' Express placed Kolkata, the Buddhist pilgrimage center of Gaya and the Bandhavgarh Tiger reserve in the Bay of Bengal.

The agency that designed the ad - promising to show passengers "an India like never before!" - amended a version approved by Eastern Railways on March 19, the rail company's spokesman, Samir Goswami, said.

"The agency decided to mark the train route more prominently in the final copy of the advertisement, given to newspapers, without informing us," Mr Goswami said.

He added that Eastern Railways, which falls under the federal rail ministry, blacklisted the agency, which he did not identify.

A similar gaffe in January drew apologies from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Women and Child Welfare Minister Krishna Tirath, after a photograph of ex-Pakistan Air Force chief Tanvir Ahmed appeared in an official advert.

Ahmed's picture appeared alongside those of Singh and Tirath, as well as ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, in publicity for National Girl Child Day, a campaign against female feticide.

The Maharajas' Express, aimed at wealthy tourists, is a joint venture between the rail ministry's Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and the Indian arm of the international tour operator Cox and Kings.

From its starting point in Kolkata, the train calls on key pilgrimage sites and the Taj Mahal town of Agra before pulling into New Delhi at the end of a seven-night trip.

The cost ranges from $1,400 a night for an ordinary suite to $2,500 a night for the presidential suite.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...rom=public_rss

[Neo]

Railways ad places Delhi in Pakistan

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 20th March, 2010 (ANI)

Kolkata, Mar 20 (ANI):In yet another blunder by government departments, an advertisement issued by the Indian Railways has placed New Delhi in Pakistan and Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal.

The Easter Railway issued the advertisement to newspapers during a flag off ceremony of the "Maharaja's Express."

Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was to flag off the Maharaja'a Express trail at Kolkata Station on Saturday.

A box inside the advertisement panel showed the train route from Kolkata to New Delhi via Gaya, Varanasi, Bandhabgarh, Khajuraho, Gwalior and Agra.

As the faded background of the outline of a small map of India showed Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal and Delhi in Pakistan.

Eastern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Samir Goswami accepted the mistake and apologised for the same.

He also informed that the Easter Railways has suspended the advertising agency.

Meanwhile, the advertising agency claimed that 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," the advertising agency said.

In January, the Union Women and Child Welfare Ministry had issued an advertisement containing former Pakistan air force chief's photograph. (ANI)

http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/614372

[Lady Macbeth]

Some one is sure going to lose his/her job after this......couldnt she/he have just googled it?

Maybe its just his/her way of bringing the two countries together? Afterall our politicians seem to be doing a "not-so-swell-of-a-job" on this issue!