New Delhi: The PM-CARES fund for Coronavirus received 3,076 crore in five days, as per an audit statement made public by the government. The statement, however, only mentions donations between March 27, when the fund was created and March 31.
Of ₹3,076 crore, ₹3,075.85 crore was from domestic voluntary contribution and ₹39.67 lakh was received as foreign contribution.
“PM-CARES had an initial corpus of ₹2.25 lakh and the fund has also received an interest of around ₹35 lakh,” the statement read.
The audit statement was uploaded on the PM-CARES fund website but the details of the domestic and foreign contributors have not been disclosed by the government in public.
Former Finance Minister Chidambaram questioned why the names of “these generous donors” were not revealed.
“Why? Every other NGO or Trust is obliged to reveal the names of donors contributing more than a threshold amount. Why is the PM CARES FUND exempt from this obligation,” the senior congress leader asked.
Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund was created by the centre on March 28, 2020 to tackle any emergency situation similar to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and provide relief to those affected by it. The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairman of the fund and the defence, home and finance ministers are ex-officio trustees.
