UP govt to accept contributions from abroad for its Covid Care Fund

The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday announced to accept donations from abroad to its recently instituted coronavirus dedicated Covid Care Fund.

The Yogi Adityanath government has applied for the necessary permission under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), which is expected soon.

“Many people from abroad have offered to contribute towards the UP Covid Care Fund. This would be possible once we receive the FCRA clearance,” UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi told the media here this evening.

This comes close on the heels of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre deciding to accept contributions from abroad to the PM CARES (Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund, which has been instituted to fight the pandemic outbreak.

Whereas, the PM is the chairman of PM CARES trust, it also comprises the union defence, home and finance ministers as members.

The Adityanath government is targetting to generate a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore for Covid Care Fund, which would be used to expend on medical equipment, testing kits, hospital infrastructure, tele medicine, health education, personal protection equipment (PPE), masks etc.

The CM  also renewed his appeal to the people and the private sector entities to donate generously in the Covid Care Fund under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) route.

Awasthi said several companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Haier, Britannia, ITC, Gyan, Shudh Plus, Diamond Cement, Priya Gold, Unnati etc had come forward to help the state under their CSR initiatives to fight the pandemic by providing necessary items, such as biscuits, soap bars, masks, hand sanitiser, television sets, deep freezers etc.

Meanwhile, he said a population of more than half million was living in the 104 coronavirus hotspots across 15 districts, which had been sealed completely even as the lockdown period continues.

“The containment of coronavirus in these hotspots is key to fighting the pandemic, since nearly 75 per cent of the total positive cases in UP pertain to these areas alone,” he claimed.

The state has decided to enforce ‘social distancing’ norms more strictly in the banks, apart from ensuring that every citizen wears a facemask while venturing outside, since it has been made mandatory.

Besides, the UP Police have lodged 13,208 first information reports (FIR) and booked almost 42,359 persons under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for defying the lockdown norms pertaining to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. About 14 million vehicles were checked and fines totalling Rs 5.87 crore recovered in fines.

Now, the number of coronavirus patients in UP has touched 431 across 40 districts, of which 32 were discharged after treatment. Of these more than 221 cases pertain to the Tablighi Jamaat alone. The state has created a network of more than 100 dedicated government and private hospitals for coronavirus treatment.