Tamil Nadu officials dispute Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman claim of Rs 6,000 crore Covid relief

CHENNAI: More than a week after Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre had given Tamil Nadu Rs 6,600 crore to fight Covid-19, officials in the state government said funds received from the Centre for Covid do not add up to more than Rs 1,500 crore.
“The Centre has given Rs 6,600 crore to Tamil Nadu specifically for buying medical equipment like ventilators and masks to fight Covid. This has been given in the first three months of this financial year (after lockdown was imposed),” Sitharaman told a virtual rally of TN BJP cadres on June 25.

“When did they give us this Rs 6,600 crore? It has never come,” said an official.
“Even if one puts a very high value for the RT-PCR kits the Centre initially supplied, the total funds received for Covid from the Centre does not add up to even Rs 1,500 crore,” said the official.
A mail sent to T V Somanathan, expenditure secretary, Union finance ministry seeking details on funds disbursed to Tamil Nadu specifically for Covid remained unanswered.
“Under National Health Mission (NHM) Rs 655 crore was given to us. In addition, there was Rs 510 crore under SDRF. While we have undertaken around 13 lakh tests so far, the Centre had supplied just about 5-6% of those kits. Even if one values them at a high of Rs 3,000 per kit, the numbers do not add up much,” an official said.
Health department officials said they received Rs 312cr for prevention and management of Covid-19. In addition, the Centre has permitted the state to use up to Rs 82cr allotted under NHM for the pandemic.
The Centre had allotted 5.3 lakh PPEs and 5 lakh N95 masks for all central and state institutions in TN. “The state has received 2 lakh PPEs and 4.2 lakh N95 masks so far,” said Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation managing director P Umanath. In addition, the state has received more than 20 lakh hydroxychloroquine pills and 98,000 RTPCR kits.
(With inputs from Pushpa Narayan)