PM CARES Fund Trust on Wednesday decided to allocate Rs 3100 crore for the fight against COVID-19 out of which approximately Rs 2000 crore will be earmarked for the purchase of ventilators, Rs 1000 crore will be used for the care of migrant labourers and Rs 100 crore will be given to support vaccine development.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram. (File Photo: IANS)
Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday slammed the Centre’s decision to allocate Rs 1000 crore for the well-being of migrants saying that “nothing will go to the hands of the labourers”.
PM CARES Fund Trust on Wednesday decided to allocate Rs 3100 crore for the fight against COVID-19 out of which approximately Rs 2000 crore will be earmarked for the purchase of ventilators, Rs 1000 crore will be used for the care of migrant labourers and Rs 100 crore will be given to support vaccine development.
The States and UTs will be given a lump sum assistance of Rs 1000 crore from PM CARES Fund for strengthening the existing measures being taken for the welfare of the migrants and poor.
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This amount would be provided to the State Governments and UTs to place it at the disposal of the District Collectors/Municipal Commissioners for strengthening their efforts in providing accommodation facilities, making food arrangements, providing medical treatment and making transportation arrangements of the migrants.
Reacting on the Government move, Chidambaram jibed, “PM-CARES has allocated Rs 1000 crore for migrant workers. Please don’t make the common mistake.”
He pointed out that the money will not be given to the migrant workers but to the State governments to meet the expenses of travel, accommodation, medicine and food for the migrant workers.
The money will not be given to the migrant workers but to the State governments to meet the expenses of travel, accommodation, medicine and food for the migrant workers. But nothing will go to the hands of the migrant workers.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 14, 2020
“Let’s take a migrant worker who has crossed all hurdles and returned to his village. There are no jobs in the village. He has no work and no income. How will he survive and support his family?” the Congress leader questioned in another tweet.
Earlier on Wednesday, Chidambaram had described Prime Minister Modi’s announcement of Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package as a “headline and a blank page”.
In a big push to revive the economy, PM Modi on Tuesday announced the package of Rs 20 lakh crore, which includes measures already announced by the government and the RBI so far to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. The amount is nearly 10 per cent of India’s GDP.
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