Rs 242 crore disbursed to provide relief from June 2012 to March 2017

Mumbai: The state government provided aid to 22,633 citizens from June 2012 to March 2017 via the chief minister’s relief fund and disbursed Rs 242.53 crore to this end, a Right to Information (RTI) query by local activist Anil Galgali has revealed.

Also, it has been revealed that the CM’s relief fund has Rs 574 crore parked in more than half a dozen banks in the state — apart from the State Bank of India all the others are private banks — and earned Rs 41.63 crore in interest on this as of May 2 2017. According to the reply to Mr Galgali’s query, 3,161 applications for medical aid were rejected till March this year.

Mr Galgali had sought, via the RTI, information related to the chief minister’s relief fund from January 1, 2005 till date, but the chief minister’s secretariat, however, said it did not possess data prior to June 2012, citing that the chief minister’s relief fund documents were destroyed in the Mantralaya fire on June 21 2012.

According to the information, from June 22, 2012 to March 30, 2017 21,943 people received  Rs 183,15,00,930 for medical aid and while people received a total sum of Rs 59,37,86,710 for various reasons such as accidental deaths, fires and artificial organ transplants.

Monetary aid is provided via the chief minister’s relief fund according to the accepted norms being fulfilled as per the stipulated guidelines. Apart from medical aid, other cases are considered on receiving requests according to their importance and priorities and instructions passed by the chief minister; otherwise they are put on hold.