PM-CARES fund got Rs 12,691.82 crore as donation in 3 years

The controversial PM-CARES fund attracted a donation of Rs 12,691.82 crore in three years of which Rs 535.43 crore were foreign donations, according to an official document.

The Receipt and Payment Accounts showed that it has Rs 5,415.65 crore as balance as on March 2022 after spending Rs 3,716.29 crore for various Covid-19 related schemes in 2021-22 fiscal.

With the pandemic ebbing, the contributions to the fund saw a decline in 2021-22 compared to the previous fiscal.

The PM-CARES or the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Funds was set up on 27 March, 2020 with the Prime Minister as the ex-officio chairman. It attracted criticism from the Opposition as it was not open to RTI or audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

According to the Receipts and Payments Account documents, voluntary contributions from India was Rs 3,075.85 crore in 2019-20 while it rose to Rs 7,183.77 crore the next fiscal, the highest. In 2021-22, it came down to Rs 1,896.76 crore.

When it comes to foreign contributions, it was Rs 39.67 lakh in 2019-20 and it rose to a high of Rs 494.91 crore in the next fiscal and then slid to Rs 40.12 crore in 2021-22. For the three fiscals, the fund received an interest of Rs 263.98 crore.

The Fund spent Rs 3,976.17 crore in 2020-21 for various projects, including for providing ventilators, welfare of migrants and oxygen plants, procuring vaccines and setting up two laboratories.

The spending in 2021-22 was Rs 3,716.29 crore for reactivating ICU bedded Sardar Vallabhai Patel Covid-19 centre in Delhi, procuring oxygen concentrators and setting up two Covid-19 hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir among others.