Amid controversy over PM-CARES, at least 10 state governments, including Congress-ruled Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, have set up dedicated funds to raise money to fight the challenge posed by COVID-19.
A day after hitting out at the Modi government for setting up a separate fund – Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES), Congress on Tuesday piped down on its criticism insisting that it was “unnecessary waste of time and energy to nitpick”.
Besides the three Congress-ruled states, the state governments of Karnataka, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha have set up dedicated funds to raise money for the battle against COVID-19.
"I don't think it is a conspiracy to end the PMNRF. This is not the time to raise such questions and suspect each others' bonafides," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here.
On Monday, questions were raised by critics on Modi’s decision to set up a new public charitable fund – PM-CARES – instead of using the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to collect donations for fighting COVID-19.
An official statement on March 28 had said that PM-CARES was set up keeping in mind the need for having a dedicated national fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected.
“What was the need to set up a separate PM-CARES fund when you already have PMNRF,” AICC spokesman Gourav Vallabh has asked at a press conference here.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor too had termed the decision to set up PM CARES as “highly unusual”.
“Why not simply rename PMNRF as PM-CARES, given the PM’s penchant for catchy acronyms, instead of creating a separate Public Charitable Trust whose rules and expenditure are totally opaque,” Tharoor had asked.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on Monday, had sidestepped questions on PM-CARES and pointed out the he too had set up a dedicated fund to raise money to fight COVID-19.