BHUBANESWAR:Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday asked the officials of the departments concerned to ensure that all eligible persons avail the benefits of Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).
The directive was issued at a high level meeting at the Secretariat where the Chief Minister reviewed implementation of CMRF and Harishchandra Yojana. He also announced reward for the district collectors who have successfully implemented these welfare schemes in their respective districts.
Financial assistance of `10 crore is being provided to needy persons from CMRF every year. Besides, ` 4 crore assistance is also given to eligible persons through the district collectors. Under the Harishchandra Yojana, the State Government has provided financial assistance of `15 crore to 80,000 persons last year, while `17 crore has been given to 88,000 people under the yojana in 2017-18.
For ‘Mahaprayana’ vehicle service, a total of 39 vehicles have been provided to 29 districts from the CMRF. Besides, six vehicles have been provided to three medical colleges and hospitals of the State. The CMRF aid is earmarked for ‘Mahaprayana’ vehicle service, Harishchandra Yojana, health services to needy patients and management of Aahar centres. It was decided that a proposal will be sent to the Centre to adopt CMRF as CSR activity in line with PMRF.
On the occasion, Naveen launched the Harischandra Yojana Expenditure Reimbursement portal through which financial assistance will be disbursed online among the beneficiaries in 16 districts in the first phase. Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and other senior officials were present.