By Our Correspondent
KORAPUT/SUNDARGARH/BHUBANESWAR: Call it Left and Right and Secular and Liberal, all in Odisha united together to fight the danger of COVID-19 outbreak. Since Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealed Party MPs and MLAs to flood funds from MPLADs and MLALADs to CMRF, several ruling BJD MPs including himself Chief Minister Patnaik, Rajya Sabha MP Dr Sasmit Patra, Kendrapara Lok Sabha MP Anubhav Mohanty, Minister Pratap Jena and Tukuni Sahu already donated funds from their MPLADs and MLALADs.
As a part of the Government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID–19, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has issued a circular granting one-time dispensation for utilizing funds under the MPLADS to address the challenges in the fight against the COVID-19.
Joining the fray, two Opposition MPs including Koraput Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka and Sundargarh BJP MP and former Union Tribal Affairs Minister, Jual Oram also opened their gates. Sundargarh MP Jual Oram recommended release of Rs 25 lakh out of his MPLADS funds to Sundargarh district for purchase of medical equipments to fight COVID-19.The Congress Ulaka contributed Rs 1 crore from his MPLADS funds to Koraput and Rayagada districts to combat the COVID-19 threat.
Kendrapara BJD Lok Sabha MP Anubhav Mohanty on Friday wrote to Kendrapara Collector Samartha Verma for dispensation of Rs 1.05 crore from his MPLAD funds for purchase of necessary equipment for COVID-19.The funds will be utilized for the purchase of testing and screening kit and other equipment to keep people of his constituency safe from the deadly virus.
He will utilize Rs 75 lakh for Kendrapara district and Rs 30 Lakhs for Cuttack under his parliamentary constituency for immediate prevention and awareness on COVID-19.
