A total of Rs 10,990 crore was collected under the PM CARES Fund in 2020-21, as per the audited figures made public by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Monday. Out of this, Rs 7,014 core was the closing balance in the fund until the end of March 2021, the data reveals.
A public charitable trust under the name of Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was set up in March 2020 with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like that posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected. The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairman of the PM CARES fund and the ministers of defence, home affairs and finance are ex-officio trustees. The fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from individuals and organisations and does not get any budgetary support.
The audited statement shows that Rs 3,976 crore was disbursed from the PM CARES Fund in 2020-21. The major contributions to the fund came in the form of voluntary contributions (domestic) of Rs 10,258 core, nearly Rs 495 crore came as contributions from abroad, and the fund also earned bank interest of Rs 235 crore from the balance. The detailed financial statements of the contributors have not been made public.
The Rs 3,976 crore disbursed until the end of March 2021 included Rs 1,311 crore for purchasing 50,000 ‘made in India’ ventilators for government hospitals run by the Centre and states, Rs 1,000 crore allocated to states and union territories for the welfare of migrants and nearly Rs 1,393 crore for the procurement of 6.6 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
Rs 201 crore was allocated from the fund for establishing medical oxygen generation plants inside public health facilities while Rs 20 crore was allocated for upgrading as the Central Drugs Laboratory for test and release of batches of Covid-19 vaccines while Rs 50 lakh was disbursed for the establishment of two 500-bedded makeshift hospitals in Muzaffarpur and Patna as well as 16 RT-PCR testing labs in nine states and UTs.
According to government sources, to date, PM CARES has approved Rs 7,690 crore for various initiatives related to Covid relief; all the funds have been fully utilised. This has resulted in vital interventions, they said, like setting up more than 1,200 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plants for oxygen generation across all districts of the country, 1 lakh oxygen concentrators to state health facilities, procurement of 50,000 ventilators, 6.6 crore Covid vaccine doses, and more than 3,500 beds in various states for use during Covid. It is also important to maintain sufficient balance in PM CARES FUND to meet requirements during any further emergency, they said.
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