GUWAHATI: Confusion prevails over the utilisation of funds collected as donations in the Covid 19 pandemic as experts raise questions under what rule the funds will be audited.
Days after reports that funds collected in PM CARES is out of the ambit of audit, G Plus spoke to a few experts to know what will be the fate of Rs 100 crore donation fund contributed by common public for Covid 19 pandemic.
This is the backdrop of a national media house reporting that according to their sources in CAG office the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations or PM CARES Fund, formed amid the coronavirus crisis to be a war chest for national crises, will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
“Since the fund is based on donations of individuals and organisations, we have no right to audit the charitable organisation,” the national media quoted the source.
G Plus also reported that as the number of COVID-19 patients and those affected by the lockdown is increasing in Assam and India, state and central ministers are requesting donations from the public. Many concerned citizens are donating, but here again the public expects that if not monthly, quarterly or yearly the state and the central government should make the utilisation of the relief funds public.
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City-based activist and senior journalist, Manjit Mahanta, talking to G Plus said, “The government should make the utilisation of the relief funds public and as of now I have not seen any transparency.”
But are the funds accountable? People are confused.
Along with the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, in Assam there is Assam Arogya Nidhi and at the Centre there is Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) to generate funds for combating special disasters like Covid-19.
The state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, from time to time, makes public the information regarding how much fund has been collected in Assam Arogya Nidhi but the public is unaware about the CM Relief Fund account. Similarly, the citizens of the country are unaware about how much fund has been collected in PM CARES and PM Relief Fund.
The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was created on 28th March 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in India. The fund will be used for combating, containment and relief efforts against the coronavirus outbreak and similar pandemic like situations in the future. The Prime Minister is the chairman of the trust. Other members include the defence, home and finance ministers.
The PM CARES fund is different from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF), which was created in 1948 and has been used by the Government of India ever since, for example during the 2013 North India floods, the 2015 South India floods and the 2019 Kerala floods.
An RTI was filed in the state’s chief minister’s office in 2018 seeking details of the funds received by the CM relief account since 2016 and the utilisation of these funds. The office, in the reply to the RTI, said that such information is not available with the chief minister’s office.
Former chief secretary of Assam, HN Das, talking to G Plus said that such information should be made public and the chief minister’s office is expected to furnish the details whenever asked for.
Another retired bureaucrat who has worked in Assam government’s finance and information departments, talking to G Plus under condition of anonymity said, “The receiving of the funds in the CM and PM relief funds is subject to audit but what is not transparent is that whom will the funds be given to.”
Many activists have tweeted against the PM Cares fund. The tweets questioned why PM-CARES accepted foreign donations for 2 days and then backtracked. Why was IT Act section 80(G) amended if donations to PM-CARES were already eligible for tax exemption?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government keeps claiming about corruption free and transparent governance. If the citizens are confused regarding the accountability of the special funds, is it not the responsibility of the state and the central governments to clear the doubts?