Rs 52 cr mine fund to be used in coronavirus fight: Goa CM

A sum of Rs 52 crore will be used from the District Mineral Fund to set up facilities to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday.

The fund, collected for mining activity which has come to a standstill for two years now, currently has a corpus of Rs 180 crore, he told reporters.

"We will use Rs 52 crore from the district mineral fund to set up facilities including a COVID-19 hospital. The Centre has allowed us to utilise money in this fund," he said.

Sawant informed that the condition of all five COVID- 19 patients in the state was stable.

He said a laboratory to test samples for coronavirus started functioning at the Goa Medical College and Hospital from Monday.

Sawant said he had spoke to the chief minister of Karnataka to allow trucks carrying essentials from there to move towards Goa.

The Food and Drug Administration has told medicine wholesalers to release supplies to tide over a shortage of some items, he informed.