Aahar to get money from CM fund

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to sustain the much-hyped Aahar scheme, the state government will channel money from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) towards it.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had on April 1, 2015, launched the cheap meal scheme in all five municipal corporations - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur. The government now wants to expand the scheme, which promises a lunch of rice and dalma at Rs 5, to all 30 districts in the next two months.
Initially, the state government had said expenditure for the Aahar scheme would be arranged from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of PSUs and private companies. But latest official documents, copies of which are with the TOI, reveal that the CMRF would be used to sustain the scheme.
Joint secretary of general administration department, C R Patra, in a letter dated January 6, asked Allahabad Bank branch manager to release Rs 43.24 crore from the CMRF to 30 district Aahar societies. The letter carried a list of names of the societies and their accounts in different banks in the districts. Please remit the amount against the authority as mentioned and debit the amount from the CMRF account for payment to 30 district Aahar societies, the letter stated.
The CMRF guideline categorically says that the assistance is mainly for treatment of major ailments. It has also listed 16 major ailments including cancer, cardiac surgery, renal transplant, brain tumour and severe accidents for the purpose. The guideline further says that the CMRF assistance may be provided for rehabilitation of disabled, orphans and destitutes in cases deserving extreme compassion, said a senior official in the GA department requesting anonymity.
Sources in the housing and urban development department, which is the administrative department for the scheme, said the state government decided to use the CMRF money after private companies refused to fund the scheme. "Initially, the government ran the scheme with funds collected from three of its PSUs like IDCO, the OPGC and the OMC, apart from the privately held TATA Steel. Before the launch of the scheme, central PSUs like Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) declined to sponsor the Aahar scheme," sources added.
Meanwhile, BJP and Congress hit out at the state government for the move and alleged that the government is misutilizing state exchequer for political gain. "I am surprised to hear that CMRF money is being proposed to be spent for the Aahar populist scheme," said senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra.