Ventilators to vaccines: Rs 10,990 Cr collected, Rs 3976 disbursed under PM CARES
Out of this, Rs 7,014 crore (64%) was the closing balance in the fund until the end of March 2021.
By Sumit Jha Published on 8 Feb 2022 4:31 AM GMT
New Delhi: A total of Rs 10,990 crore was collected under the PM CARES fund in 2020-21. Of which Rs. 3,976 crore was spent to purchase vaccines, ventilators, oxygen plants, and other related items to combat pandemic during the last fiscal, according to the audited financial statement posted on its website of PM CARES Fund.
Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was created on March 27, 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
The stated purpose of the fund is to combat, contain coronavirus outbreak and provide relief during pandemic-like situations in the future.
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 organizations and does not get any budgetary support.
Out of this, Rs 7,014 crore (64%) was the closing balance in the fund until the end of March 2021.
PM CARE collected Rs 3,076 crore including an initial corpus, foreign and domestic contributions, and interest within the first five days of its existence. In the financial year 2020-21, it received voluntary contributions from domestic donors to the tune of Rs 7,184 crore and foreign contributions amounting to Rs 494 crore. Along with interest, and a Rs 25 lakh refund of unspent balance from the National Disaster Management Authority, the Fund's total receipts for the year amounted to Rs 7,193 crore. The detailed financial statements of the contributors have not been made public.
On the expenditure side, Rs 1,393 crore was spent on the purchase of 6.6 crore doses of COVID19 vaccines and Rs 1,311 crore for around 50,000 made-in-India ventilators for use in Central and State government hospitals. Rs 1,000 crore was also set aside for the welfare of the country's migrant populations, Rs 201.58 crore to set up 162 oxygen generation plants in the aftermath of the devastating second Covid wave, which triggered an acute oxygen supply crisis across India. Rs 20.41 crore was spent on upgrading the government-run labs to test and release Covid vaccines and Rs 50 crore was used to set up two Covid-dedicated hospitals in Bihar's Muzaffarpur and Patna, as well as 16 labs to test RT-PCR samples in as many states.
