Bhubaneswar: A statement by Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Minister Pratap Jena claimed that the Odisha government has spent a staggering Rs 472 crore on COVID management during the last seven months.
The written statement was tabled before the Assembly Saturday which gave an account of the expenditure the government incurred out of the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).
The breakup of the data revealed that the majority of the funds were given to the District Collectors to tackle the health disaster. Funds were also spent on arranging train tickets for migrants returning to the state.
The detailed list of expenditure claimed that the Police department, Housing and Urban Development department, National Health Mission, selected civic bodies got the share to cater to the needs of COVID management in the last few months.
The data claimed that a larger chunk of Rs 165 crore was utilised to pay the returnee Odias as incentives for successful completion of quarantine after their return to the state. The incentives were routed either through the Panchayati Raj department or the Housing and Urban Development department.
On the other hand, nearly Rs 194 crore was allocated to different district administrations to manage the health disaster. The amount was paid to different districts at multiple transactions based on the need of the districts. Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack districts received the highest allocations from the CMRF.
The government has also allocated Rs 17.5 crore to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Rs 3 crore to Berhampur Municipal Corporation and Rs 7.5 crore to the Cuttack Municipal Corporation. Out of the three civic bodies assisted, BMC received the lion’s share for COVID management.
Some other assistance included Rs 15 crore to the police department, Rs 46 crore to the National Health Mission and Rs 9 crore given to the East Coast Railway as train fare for the migrant workers from Shramik trains.
Another expenditure shown from the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) was Rs 1.5 crore which was given to the 30 districts for food expenditure of the quarantine centres, personal hygiene kits, bedsheets/pillow covers for quarantine centres and cleaning of the centres. These also include provision for homeless, destitute and beggars.