People's representatives cutting across party lines have come forward to extend financial help through their Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) and MLA funds for dealing with the crisis arising out of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a tweet, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday said that its party president Akhilesh Yadav has extended financial aid worth Rs 1 crore to the fund for providing coronavirus testing kits and other life saving kits for the doctors and health workers of Azamgarh Medical College.
The tweet also mentioned that the party has appealed to all the people to cooperate during these difficult times. Yadav is a Lok Sabha member from Azamgarh.
A report from Ballia said that UP Minister of State for Sports Upendra Tiwari has given Rs 1 crore from his MLA local area development fund for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak in his assembly segment of Phephna.
In a letter sent to the district magistrate of Ballia, Tiwari also announced that his salary and allowances as minister of state for a month should be deposited in the disaster fund.
BJP Rajya Sabha member Neeraj Shekhar has proposed giving his entire fund to the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) and King George's Medical University in Lucknow and Ballia district hospital to deal with COVID-19 as per requirement.
BSP MLA from Rasra (Ballia) Umashankar Singh has given Rs 15 lakh and BJP MLA from Belthara Road (Ballia) Dhananjay Kanaujiya has allocated Rs 11 lakh as per the letters written by them to the district authorities.
The Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had issued fresh guidelines on Tuesday allowing the use of MPLADS fund for the purpose.
The ministry, based on the requests of MPs, decided that district authorities may utilise MPLADS funds for medical testing, screening and other facilities required to detect and contain COVID-19, an order said.
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