Among the PSUs that responded to RTI queries from The Indian Express, Oil giant ONGC tops the list with whopping Rs 29.06 crore to the fund from staff salaries.
According to the RTI records accessed by the Indian Express, apart from over Rs 2,400 crore in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, over 100 PSUs from across sectors have together contributed nearly Rs 155 crore from staff salaries to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) fund.
Among the PSUs that responded to RTI queries from The Indian Express, Oil giant ONGC tops the list with whopping Rs 29.06 crore to the fund from staff salaries. The contributions also include Rs 11.43 crore from salaries of staff from BSNL, which is struggling to stay afloat and was unable to chip in from its CSR funds.
The RTI responses, overall, show that 24 PSUs gave Rs 1 crore or more to the fund from staff salaries.
Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which manages the fund, had declined to furnish details of the contributions received. “PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. However, relevant information in respect of PM CARES Fund may be seen on the website pmcares.gov.in,” PMO had said in an RTI response.
Set up on March 28 this year following the Covid outbreak, the fund had a corpus of Rs 3,076.62 crore by March 31 itself, of which Rs 3,075.85 crore were listed as “voluntary contributions”, according to the website.
Based on RTI responses received till then, the Indian Express on August 19 had reported that 38 PSUs had used their CSR funds to together contribute over Rs 2,105 crore to the fund, with ONGC again topping with Rs 300 crore.
RTI responses from a total of 121 PSUs had come until 4 December, of which 71 said they contributed from both staff salaries and CSR funds. 101 PSUs contributed Rs 154.70 crore from salaries and 98 gave a total of Rs 2,422.87 crore from CSR funds, the responses showed, as reported by the Indian Express.
Among the PSUs, as per the latest responses, Railtel Corporation contributed Rs 5.30 crore from CSR and Rs 15.03 lakh as staff contribution, apart from Rs 6.70 crore as a donation under 80G of the I-T Act.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), close on the heels of ONGC at the top, donated Rs 23.99 crore from staff salaries and Rs 225 crore from CSR. The second in terms of CSR (Rs 250 crore), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), is fifth in terms of staff salaries (Rs 7.58 crore).
In the lowest donations, The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation contributed Rs 88,072 from its salaries, whereas the Lucknow-based Scooters India Ltd gave Rs 1.36 lakh.
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