Modi’s Covid charity under scrutiny over faulty fans

Complaints that hundreds of fans bought with the signing of Narendra Modi’s Covid-19 recovery fund are not working have sparked transparency and concerns about corruption over how the charity spends its money.

The Indian Prime Minister created Indian Prime Minister Cares in March last year as a public charity fund to “provide aid to those affected” during disasters. Modi heads the fund in his official role, along with three cabinet members who act as trustees.

In the five days following its release, the fund attracted more than $ 30 billion ($ 423 million) in donations from tycoons like Mukesh Ambani and Indian state-owned enterprises.

Donations have continued to be poured both from the country and from abroad by such diverse personalities as the founder of the Dalai Lama and Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, during India’s calamitous second wave. But critics complain that there is little transparency about how PM spends his donations.

Activists have also questioned why Prime Minister Cares was even established as another facility, the Prime Minister’s National Aid Fund, which already has a similar purpose.

The controversy has grown as state governments struggle to provide health care during a pandemic in which more than 28 million people have been infected and more than 335,000 dead.

The Indian government argues that PM Cares is not a public authority and is therefore not obliged to disclose his donors or his expenses in detail.

A government spokesman said on Wednesday that “PM Cares is fully transparent. Expenditure made with PM Cares has been incorporated in a transparent manner [the] public domain. “

The fund has not yet published the audited results for the year ended March 31, 2021.

“We have learned that unless there is openness and public control, very often the funds do not reach the people intended for them,” said Anjali Bhardwaj, an anti-corruption activist based in New Delhi. “It leads to misappropriation, arbitrariness and corruption.”

PM Cares uses The image of Modi and publishes its press statements on the websites of the Government of India. Some government sites have a pop-up window asking visitors to donate.

According to the website of PM Cares, the government has allocated 20 billion Australian dollars to the purchase of 50,000 “Made in India” fans, 10 billion dollars for migrant workers affected by job losses after blockades and 1 billion of dollars for vaccine development. He did not provide any other information.

“It simply came to our notice then [PM Cares] give us, there really are no disclosures, “said transparency activist Saket Gokhale, who has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to disclose Prime Minister Cares’ expenses. The background, he added, was” opaque, which it’s a big red flag. ”

Several opposition-controlled states have complained that fans purchased with PM Cares ’money were defective or not properly installed in hospitals, so they cannot be used.

“Oxygen flow is irregular. The censor does not work. It stops abruptly, “said Raghu Sharma, Rajasthan’s state health minister.” Such a large amount of money has been spent on buying these fans, but they cannot be used. “

Raj Bahadur, the health adviser to the Punjab government, said 237 of the 320 fans donated to the state by Prime Minister Cares were defective.

“The fans don’t work at the level they should, I’m sure there’s some flaw,” Bahadur said.

New Delhi said states had not installed all the given fans and the central government carried out “vigorous monitoring” to help use the rescue machines.

The Bombay High Court said last week that ventilators malfunctioning at government hospitals in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, were a “serious problem”.

The judges added: “If the PM Cares fund is to be used to provide fans, they should be fans worthy of medical use.”

However, the government has submitted an affidavit negant that Aurangabad fans manufactured by Jyoti CNC manufacturer were supplied through PM Faces.