Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday slammed attempts to denigrate the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
He said some vested interests had falsely claimed the use of the CMDRF was opaque, and the money often reached the wrong people rather than the deserving beneficiaries.
For one, Mr. Vijayan said, some social media handles spread the falsehood that the government had diverted a significant sum to the KSFE to buy laptops.
Mr. Vijayan said the CMDRF underwrote the KSFE’s effort to procure laptops for school students reliant on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some distorted the facts to undermine CMDRF’s credibility.
Mr. Vijayan said the CAG had audited the utilisation of CMDRF funds from 2016 to 2019 and found no anomaly or wrongdoing. The CMDRF was open to examination and auditing by the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Vijayan said an electronic platform controlled the CMDRF, including the inflow and outflow of funds. The Principal Secretary (Finance), Raveendra Kumar Agarwal, handles the CMDRF account. The SBI manages the account.
CMDRF funds reach beneficiaries only through bank transfers. Mr. Agarwal must consent to the disbursal of CMDRF funds. The Revenue department administers the CMDRF, and the Principal Secretary (Revenue) monitors contributions and withdrawals from it.
Mr. Vijayan said that despite CMDRF’s transparency and accountability, some forces attempted to cast aspersions on its integrity.
He said several service and teacher organisations, cutting across political lines, had agreed to contribute five days’ salary to the CMDRF. They could make it a one-time payment or make it in instalments.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheeshan denied accusations that he had forbidden people from contributing to the CMDRF.
Mr. Satheeshan insisted that the government maintain total transparency when utilising CMDRF. Mr Satheeshan said the government had diverted some of the funds collected for flood relief in 2019 for other purposes.
He accused the government of evading questions in the Assembly about CMDRF utilisation. He said the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) would hold the CMDRF to account in the public domain.
