CHENNAI: Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan on Friday said a white paper on the Tamil Nadu government’s fiscal position would be released ahead of the presentation of the revised Budget for 2021-22. Answering reporters’ queries after launching a new website for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund (CMPRF), along with IT Minister T Mano Thangaraj at the Secretariat, the Finance Minister said, “This year, for the first time, we will present an e-Budget. Similarly, if many accounts are presented in Excel format rather than PDF format, it would help many people study them extensively.
“Thanks to the e-Budget initiative, about 2,500 trees that would have been cut to make paper for printed documents, would be saved,” the Minister stated. Responding to a question, he said, “From May 7 to July 8, a total of Rs 472.62 crore was contributed to the Chief Minister’s Corona Relief Fund.
During the first wave of the Covid outbreak, people donated about Rs 400 crore in 14 months - from March, 2020 to May 6, 2021. But within just two months, people poured in huge amounts as donations thanks to the completely-transparent administration encouraged by Chief Minister MK Stalin. Of the Rs 472.62 crore, so far, `241 crore has been allocated for Covid-related work.”
On May 11, the Chief Minister appealed to the people of Tamil Nadu to donate generously to the CMPRF to protect lives and livelihoods, and to ease the stress on the State’s healthcare infrastructure during the second wave of the pandemic. Through the new CMPRF website, individuals can now contribute to the fund via internet banking, domestic debit and credit cards and UPI. Details at https://cmprf.tn.gov.in/.
Governor to meet PM Modi on Saturday
Chennai: Governor Banwarilal Purohit is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday. The meeting assumes significance on many counts. Firstly, it takes place amid speculations that a new Governor may be appointed for TN, and a senior minister who resigned from the Union Cabinet a couple of days ago might be picked for this role. The Governor is likely to call on Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday. Governor is meeting the PM for the first time since DMK came to power. He is likely to brief Modi on political developments, Covid issues, among other things. The DMK government has been reiterating demand to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.