The Indian Express: New Delhi: Wednesday, August 19, 2020.
Replies sent by the PSUs show that in
many cases, they donated from their unused allocation for Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) activities for 2019-2020 to the fund that was launched
with just four days left for the financial year to end.
MAHARATNAS TO navratnas, energy giants
to power majors, 38 PSUs have dipped into their Corporate Social Responsibility
funds to together contribute over Rs 2,105 crore to the Prime Minister’s
Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) fund since it
was launched on March 28, records accessed by The Indian Express under the RTI
Act show.
The fund, which was set up following
the Covid outbreak, had a corpus of Rs 3,076.62 crore on March 31, 2020, of
which Rs 3,075.85 crore was listed as “voluntary contributions”, according to
its official website.
The Indian Express sent RTI queries to
55 PSUs and received, until August 13, responses from 38, which showed that
they contributed a total of Rs 2,105.38 crore over the past five months from
budget allocations in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
Significantly, on May 28, replying to
a query from The Indian Express on the contributions received, the Prime
Minister’s Office (PMO) did not furnish details, saying: “PM Cares Fund is not
a public authority under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. However,
relevant information in respect of PM CARES Fund may be seen on the website
pmcares.gov.in.”
The website does not identify the
contributors or provide details of contributions. Subsequently, responding to
an appeal by The Indian Express, the PMO’s appellate authority said on June 24:
“No information can be provided to you in this matter.”
However, replies sent by the PSUs show
that in many cases, they donated from their unused allocation for Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) activities for 2019-2020 to the fund that was
launched with just four days left for the financial year to end.
In other cases, they contributed from
this year’s CSR budget although the total allocation hadn’t been finalised yet.
And in at least one case, a PSU acknowledged that it had contributed more than
the estimate allocated for such activities.
Among the 38, the top donor (see
chart) is Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) with Rs 300 crore.
ONGC is among the PSUs that have
already dipped into this year’s CSR budget even though they acknowledged that
the “budget allocation” for 2020-21 is “yet to be determined”. HPCL, too, said
it has contributed Rs 120 crore from the CSR allocation for 2020-21, which is
yet to be finalised.
The Power Finance Corporation, meanwhile,
contributed more than its total CSR allocation for 2020-21. In its RTI
response, it said that the CSR fund “allocated (on estimation basis)” for the
year was Rs 150.28 crore but its contribution for 2020-21 was Rs 200 crore.
There are others who contributed from
allocations for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
OIL India Limited said it contributed
Rs 13 crore and Rs 25 crore, respectively, and Power Grid Corporation Rs 130
crore and Rs 70 crore. Rural Electrification Corporation contributed Rs 100
crore from its 2019-20 allocation of Rs 156.68 crore and Rs 50 crore from its
2020-21 “estimated” allocation of Rs 152 crore.
Even the Airports Authority of India
(AAI), which is involved in efforts to revive the aviation industry, chipped
in. It contributed Rs 15 crore out of its allocation of Rs 83.79 crore for
2019-20.
In its reply, BSNL said it “has not
earned net profit for the financial year 2015-16 to 2018-19. Accordingly, BSNL
has not undertaken any CSR initiative from 2015-16 till date”.
SAIL responded that it has allocated
an amount of Rs 33 crore “towards ongoing CSR activities” as “net profit of
last three years has been nil.”
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