Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PMNRF Fully and Properly being Utilised

A news report published in a national daily dated 28.3.2007 says that Rs. 1400 crore are lying idle under PMNRF. It further draws attention to the delay in audit of accounts. The article, based on RTI query by one Mr. Shailesh Gandhi, further questions the need to contribute to PMNRF "as the money does not reach the needy when they need it".

It is not correct to state that funds are lying idle. Rs. 225 crore have been disbursed as immediate assistance to the next of kin of deceased persons and to those injured in the Tsunami, the J&K earthquake, floods etc. In addition, nearly Rs. 1000 crore stands committed for specific items. These include post-tsunami reconstruction activities and the measure taken after the J&K earthquake in 2005. Disbursements against committed schemes are expected to continue for the next 10 years. For example, the single largest fund commitment (Rs. 540 crore) is on account of the PM's scholarship scheme. Under this scheme, PMNRF will contribute Rs. 300 per month to every child living in tsunami-affected villages till completion of class X. There are a total of 1.1 lakh beneficiaries under this scheme. Disbursement for the first year has already been made (Rs. 40 crore) and there is a further commitment of nearly Rs. 500 crore over the next nine years on account of this scheme alone. It would need to be appreciated that this money will have to be kept apart and not immediately disbursed. Similarly, there are substantial fund commitments on account of health insurance, assistance to fishermen, construction of orphanages and mobile dispensaries and ex-gratia for unidentified and missing persons.

If one takes the commitments into account, the balance comes to the order of Rs. 440 crore. As shown on the PMO website, this amount is in line with the general level of pre-tsunami balances in the fund. Each year, around Rs. 40 crore is required for emergencies, like floods, riots and other unforeseen circumstances. To generate this, a corpus of Rs. 400-450 crore has to remain in the Fund.

It would, thus be clear that the funds have not been kept idle. In fact, the contributions, so generously given by Indian citizens, have been carefully husbanded to ensure that the needy actually benefit. Projects have been carefully selected in consultation with the State Governments, UTs and NGOs. As far as possible, efforts are being made to provide assistance directly to the beneficiaries.

The Audit for 2004-05 is complete. This fact would be reflected w.e.f. the new financial year on the PMO website. Audit for 2005-06 will be completed very soon. In many ways, the substantial inflows post-tsunami and the very large number of individual transactions associated with it was unprecedented. Against an average annual inflow of Rs. 50 crore, the fund received nearly Rs. 900 crore after tsunami. More than 3.5 lakh individual transactions were involved.

Our citizens should thus be fully reassured of the fact that their contributions are being fully and properly utilised. This information could have been available had the correspondent chosen to clarify matters.