Centre to Allocate ₹3,000 Crore From PM CARES for Ventilator Supply, Migrants Welfare
- The Central government is allocating Rs 3,000 crore from the PM CARES Fund for supply of ventilators and welfare of migrant labourers.
- A total of Rs 2,000 crore will be spent in procurement of 50,000 Made-in-India ventilators to government-run Covid hospitals in all states and the Union Territories (UTs).
- Of the 50,000 ventilators, 30,000 are being manufactured by the Bharat Electronics (BEL). The remaining 20,000 ventilators are being manufactured by AgVa Healthcare (10,000), AMTZ Basic (5,650), AMTZ High End (4,000) and Allied Medical (350).
- So far, 2,923 ventilators have been manufactured, out of which 1,340 have already been delivered to the states/UTs. The prominent recipients include Maharashtra (275), Delhi (275), Gujarat (175), Bihar (100), Karnataka (90) and Rajasthan (75). By the end of June 2020, an additional 14,000 ventilators will be delivered to all states/UTs.
- Further, Rs 1,000 crore has already been released to states/UTs for the welfare of migrant labourers. The distribution of the fund is based on the formula of 50 percent weightage for the population as per 2011 census, 40 percent weightage for the number of positive COVID-19 cases and 10 percent for equal distribution among all states/UTs.
- This assistance is to be used for arranging accommodation, food, medical treatment and transportation of the migrants. The main recipients of the grant are Maharashtra (Rs 181 crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 103 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 83 crore), Gujarat (Rs 66 crore), Delhi (Rs 55 crore), West Bengal (Rs 53 crore), Bihar (Rs 51 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 50 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 50 crore) and Karnataka (Rs 34 crore).
- The Centre set up the PM CARES Fund as a public charitable trust to fulfil the need for having a dedicated national fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the one posed by the pandemic and to provide relief to the affected. The Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund, and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance are ex-officio trustees.
- The fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from individuals/organisations and does not get any budgetary support. Donations to PM CARES Fund would qualify for 80G benefits for 100 per cent exemption under the Income Tax Act, 1961.
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