New Delhi: Officials of the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday pledged to donate Rs 1 crore to the relief fund announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help fight the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
On Saturday, Modi had announced setting up of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES).
Political leaders, corporates, defence personnel, employees of PSUs such as Railways and Bollywood personalities were among a cross-section of organisations and people who have announced their contribution to the fund.
“We stand together in this fight. #TeamMEA pledges to contribute around Rs 1 Crore to #PMCaresFund launched by PM @narendramodi to support Government’s efforts to fight #COVID19 pandemic,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Monday.
All officials of the ministry are donating a day’s salary while some of them are voluntarily donating more, said an official.
The Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force as well as employees of the Defence Ministry have decided to donate one day’s salary totalling around Rs 500 crore.
The Union government has set up a public charitable trust under the name ‘PM CARES Fund’ in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Modi is the chairman of the trust and its members include the defence minister, the home minister and the finance minister.
India has recorded a total of 1,071 positive cases of coronavirus and 29 deaths so far.
Globally, the virus has infected more than 700,000 people and claimed more than 32,000 lives.
