NEW DELHI : The PM CARES Fund, arguably created for covid mitigation measures, has at least Rs 204.75 drawn from employees across financial institutions in the public sector. Funds were raised from RBI, SBI, LIC and a dozen more establishments for the purpose.
Another Rs. 144.5 crore was drawn on similar lines from Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) funds maintained by companies. While executing its collection drive, the government insisted that those unwilling to make contributions must put their dissent on record in writing. As per response to a RTI query by The Indian Express, a total of Rs 349.5 crores have been collected towards in this fashion from 15 establishments including PSUs.
Incidentally, LIC tops the donors’ chart with its charities for PM Cares Fund amounting to Rs 113.63. The breakup translates to Rs 8.63 crore collected from employee salaries and Rs 100 crore from its own CSR Funds. Not counting this, LIC also coughed up another Rs 5 crore from its Golden Jubilee Foundation funds.
Intriguingly, despite the enormity and Rs 107.95 crore having been taken from employees at SBI and Rs 7.34 crore from those at RBI, the PM CARES Fund has been kept out of the purview of CAG audit.
