New Delhi: At least 50 departments of the Central government have contributed Rs 157.23 crore from the salaries of employees to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) fund, according to an Indian Express report, citing records accessed under the Right to Information Act.
The Railways is the highest contributor to PM CARES fund, with Rs 146.72 crore in donations, followed by the department of space with over Rs 5.18 crore, the report said. All these contributions were made through staff salaries, the RTI response showed.
However, several key departments, such as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and those under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and others such as the department of posts, did not respond to RTI queries from the Indian Express.
So far, at least 38 PSUs have contributed Rs 2,105 crore through their CSR funds – including Rs 204.75 crore by seven public sector banks and other financial institutions – apart from Rs 21.81 crore by several Central educational institutions, all from the salaries of employees, the RTI responses revealed.
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The PM CARES Fund was set up on March 27, 2020 as an emergency measure for disaster relief during the coronavirus pandemic. On the same day, a Ministry of Corporate Affairs file called “Clarification on contribution to PM CARES Fund as eligible CSR activity under item no. (viii) of the Schedule VII of Companies Act, 2013” said that all contributions made by Indian firms to the fund would qualify as their corporate social responsibility (CSR) obligations.
Even after multiple RTI queries to the PMO about how the money in PM CARES fund is being spent, it repeatedly refused to divulge information, and later said that the PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the RTI Act.
The fund had a corpus of Rs 3,076.62 crore by March 31 itself, of which Rs 3,075.85 crore were listed as “voluntary contributions”, according to the website.
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The RTI queries were sent from August to September, and the data on Central government departments is based on RTI responses received by the Indian Express until Tuesday.
The department of biotechnology (DBT), department of agriculture research and education (DARE) and department of pharmaceuticals denied the information. DBT said the information “may not serve any public interest”; DARE stated that it is “third party information”; and, the department of pharmaceuticals echoed the PMO’s line: “PM Cares Fund is not a public authority under RTI Act.”
Some of the departments forwarded the RTI query to the PMO, which reiterated that the fund is “not a public authority” under the Act. In other responses, the report said, the ministry of environment, forests and climate change contributed Rs 1.14 crore from staff salaries. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that Rs 43.26 lakh “has been deducted during the period March to August 2020 from the salary of the officials on the pay rolls of the ministry” for the fund.
Other departments, such as the department of defence, under the Ministry of Defence (Civil) (Rs 26.20 lakh); the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Rs 18.51 lakh); and the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Rs 16.91 lakh); employees of the President’s Secretariat (Rs 12.05 lakh) contributed to the PM CARES fund, all from staff salaries, the RTI responses showed.
Apart from the 50 departments that together contributed Rs 157.23 crore, employees of the secretariats of Lok Sabha (Rs 52.54 lakh) and Rajya Sabha (Rs 36.39 lakh) contributed to the fund from their salaries.