Representational image  |  Photo Credit: PTI
New Delhi: Amid row over utilisation of COVID-19 funds, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday issued a clarification, saying that the Central Government has released 50 per cent of the funds earmarked for states and Union Territories.
In a statement, the ministry said that a news channel has recently made a claim that the Central government has only disbursed 26.14 per cent of the ECRP-II funds to the states.
“The news channel further claims that funds were disbursed by the Centre by November 2021 and states have utilized 60 per cent of the approved funds. The news report is misinformed and claims are false, misleading and based on misrepresented facts,” the ministry added.
The cabinet approved the “India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package – Phase-II” (ECRP-Phase-II) on July 8, 2021 for an amount of Rs 23,123 crore – Central share Rs 15,000 crore and state share Rs 8,123 crore – to be implemented from July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.
The scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) with some central sector (CS) components.
The scheme is aimed to prevent, detect and respond to the continuing threat posed by COVID-19 and strengthen national health systems for emergency response and preparedness across the country, according the ministry.
Under the scheme, Rs 20,308.70 crore are to be spent by states out of which Rs 12,185.70 crore is to be provided by the Central government and Rs 8,123 crore is to be provided by state governments.
The ministry said that immediately after approval of the scheme, the Central government released 15 pre cent of the central share to states/UTs in July last year to enable them to quickly undertake the preparatory activities for implementation of ECRP-II. The second instalment of funds was released soon after as advance to the states in the month of August 2021. A total amount of Rs 6075.85 crore (50 per cent of central share) has already been released to states/UTs through National Health Mission (NHM) by August 24, 2021.
Asserting that there are several factual errors in the report, the ministry said that all funds were released by August 24 last year and not in November 2021, as claimed in the news item.
“Out of the Rs 6075.85 crore made available by the Union Government, Rs. 1679.05, crore, (i.e. 27.13%), have been spent by states as 31/12/21, and not 60% as claimed in the news report,” it added.
It further said that the remaining funds will be released to states based on the progress and utilisation of at least 50 per cent of the funds already released.
So far, five states have reported expenditure of more than 50 per cent, it said.