Nagaland Chief Minister presents Covid-19 fund status

Our Correspondent

Kohima, Aug. 14 (EMN): Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who also holds charge of finance portfolio, informed that INR 7.42 crore was received from the government of India (GoI) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for Covid-19 pandemic.

He said this while responding to an unstarred question from the opposition Naga People's Front (NPF) legislator Chotisuh Sazo during the sixth session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, on Thursday in Kohima.

Sazo had asked to furnish on the fund received from GOI for Covid-19 and its utilisation.

Rio added that an additional INR 3 crore was received from North Eastern Council (NEC), which has been directly credited to the Medical department's account.

The chief minister informed that the central government had sanctioned an amount of INR 45.56 crore to the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) under SDRF 2020-21. He added that INR 15.94 crore, which accounts for 35% of the total amount, could be used for Covid-19 pandemic.

He went on to inform that the first instalment of INR 22.78 crore has been received from the centre government, out of which an amount of 15.94 crore (35% of the total sanctioned amount for 2020-21) has been spent on Covid-19 pandemic related activities.

Rio stated that the state received an amount of INR 130.73 crore during the year 2018-19 and INR 176.52 crore for the year 2019-20 from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). The details of expenditure of the said fund were made available to the house.

INR 6.89 cr. collected from Covid Cess till June

Replying to Sazo’s query on the total amount generated from Covid Cess till July, how the details of it’s spent, Rio apprised that a total amount of INR 6.89 crore was collected till June, while the cess for the month of July would be payable only by August 21.

The chief minister informed that the cess collected has been deposited to the consolidated fund of the state and added that the amount would defray the expenditure on Covid-19, which was not budgeted for.

The total additional funds spent in fighting the pandemic till date has been INR 53.41 crore till date, the chief minister said.