PM CARES: `3,100 cr earmarked
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NEW DELHI: The PM CARES Fund Trust on Wednesday decided to allocate Rs 3,100 crore for fight against COVID19, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. Out of the Rs 3,100 crore, neatly Rs 2,000 crore will be earmarked for the purchase of ventilators and Rs 1,000 crore for care of migrant labourers, it said. Another Rs 100 crore will be given to support Coronavirus vaccine development, the statement read. The trust formed on March 27 is headed by the Prime Minister.
NEW DELHI: Nearly 50 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up the PM CARES Fund, the trust that he leads on Wednesday decided to allocate Rs 3,100 crore for the fight against Covid-19.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office said the PM CARES Fund Trust had decided to spend Rs 2,000 crore to buy ventilators, Rs 1,000 crore to take care of migrant workers and earmark another Rs 100 crore to support development of a vaccine against Covid-19.
The PMO statement said the Prime Minister has thanked all the donors for their generosity in contributing to the PM CARES Fund which will support India's fight against Covid19 PM Modi had formed the trust on 27 March. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are the other members of the trust.
The government's decision to create another fund had been sharply criticised by the opposition which had, lately pointed out, why the prime minister was not spending from this fund.
Wednesday's PMO statement did not say how much money had been mobilised by the government in the last 50-odd days. It only detailed the three expenditure heads.
According to the PMO statement, Rs 2,000 crore would be used to buy 50,000 ventilators being made in the country. These ventilators would be provided to government-run Covid-19 hospitals in all states and union territories for better treatment of the critical Covid19 patients.
About Rs 1,000 crore from the PM CARES Fund would also be placed at the disposal of district collectors and municipal commissioners to strengthen their efforts to provide accommodation facilities, arrange for food, medical treatment and transportation arrangements of the migrants.
The money, which would be sent via the state disaster relief commissioner, would be released on the basis of the state's population and number of Covid-19 cases reported from the state. The PMO statement said Rs 100 crore from the PM CARES fund had been allocated to support the Covid-19 vaccine designers and developers. This money will be utilised in the supervision of Principal Scientific Advisor.