Rs 140 crore spent on Covid-19 from public donations: Karnataka CMO

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's office on Friday said it had given Rs 140.72 crore to the Health & Family Welfare department from the total Rs 334.50 crore it received from citizens and corporates to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The chief minister’s office (CMO) issued a statement detailing the money received by way of donations into the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) and the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority hours after Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah alleged that “not a single rupee” had been spent.

According to the statement issued by CM’s Secretary S Selvakumar, the CMRF had received Rs 299.50 crore whereas the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority got Rs 35 crore, totaling to Rs 334.50 crore.

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The Health & Family Welfare department was given Rs 109.10 crore from the CMRF to provide ‘medical gas pipeline with high flow oxygen system’ facilities at district and taluk hospitals for Covid-19 patients. Likewise, the department was given Rs 31.62 crore from the Authority’s fund to procure “B1-PAP-RNA extraction equipment etc”, the CMO said.

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Earlier in the day, Siddaramaiah said the CMRF had received about Rs 290 crore. “Has a single rupee been spent,” he asked, daring Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to issue a statement. He complained that the government was not providing information. “I must have written about 20 letters. It’s a breach of my privilege as the leader of the opposition. I’ve also asked how much money has come to Karnataka from the PM CARES fund, which according to me has about Rs 60,000 crore,” he said.