New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) The central government spent nearly Rs.1.1 million on the controversial advertisement Jan 24 that featured a former Pakistani air chief, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said Monday. The enquiry report has not yet been submitted to the government.

In a major embarrassment to the government, an ad by the women and child development ministry on the occasion of National Girl Child Day featured Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Ahmed, who headed the Pakistan Air Force 2006-09.

'The Ministry of Women and Child Development has instituted an enquiry to look into the reasons for this inadvertent lapse. The total expenditure on account of release of four half-page coloured special feature was Rs.10,90,136,' Krishna Tirath told the Rajya Sabha.

'The enquiry report has not yet been received,' she added.

Tirath said that the enquiry was to look into the entire sequence of events starting from the reception proposal for special advertisements, preparation of design layouts and the actual handing over of the approved design to the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) for release.

'It will enquire into the reasons which led to the inclusion of this picture in the controversial advertisement in the Times of India, those responsible for the lapse as well as the fact that whether the lapse was inadvertent or otherwise,' the minister said.

'It will also enquire into the role and responsibilities of the ministry as well as that of DAVP with respect to the release of the advertisement. Also it will review the existing procedures in the in the ministry for preparation and release of advertisement and suggest remedial measures to prevent such lapse in the future,' she added.