Bhubaneswar: Following West Bengal, the Odisha government has urged the Centre to consider the contribution of business houses to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) as money spent on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naveen requested him to consider contributions to CMRF as CSR like the ones to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF), by amending the Companies Act, 2013.
Contributions to PMNRF are already mentioned as an eligible activity under CSR in the 2013 Act, but CMRF is not included under it.
“The Odisha CMRF, like that of other states, uses funds for pro-poor projects. Some examples are: help to the eligible for medical treatment, ex-gratia to the next of kin of the poor in case of unnatural death, compensation to the victims of road and rail accidents, assistance to the family of the poor for performance of his/her last rites under the initiative ‘Harishchandra Sahayata Yojana’,” Naveen wrote to the PM.
He said the fund was being used for providing hearses to government health institutions for transportation of bodies from the place of death to the house of the deceased or place of cremation/burial and other such purposes.
Stating that the Odisha CMRF has showed its generousity by even providing relief to victims of other states/country like Jammu & Kashmir and Nepal in the event of severe natural calamities there, the CM said, “Looking into the activities, I think there is a need to augment funds for CMRF. A number of eligible poor are still not helped by CMRF.”
The CM suggested that the shortage of resources in CMRF can be addressed to some extent through the CSR funds of companies.
Section-135 of the Companies Act, 2013 and CSR Policy Rules 2014 mandate that from April 1, 2014, every company, which, either has a net worth `500 crore or a turnover of `1,000 crore or net profit of `5 crore, has to spend at least 2 per cent of its net profit on CSR.
Schedule-VII of the above Act specifically enlists activities which are eligible for receiving funds under CSR. Item (IX) of Schedule-VII mentions contribution to PMNRF as an eligible activity under CSR. However, this Schedule doesn’t provide for contribution to CMRFs as an eligible activity under CSR, the letter said.
“Hence, there is a need to include contribution to state CMRFs as an eligible activity under CSR. This will bring parity with the existing provision of contribution to PMNRF,” he added.
Recently, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising the same demand.
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