Narayanasamy to donate 30% of his MP pension to COVID-19 fund

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy announced on Friday he would contribute every month 30 per cent of the pension amount he was receiving for having served as an MP. The senior Congress leader who has been a Rajya Sabha member and also a Lok Sabha MP, was a Minister in the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh.

He was receiving Rs 45,000 as pension, the chief minister said, adding "I have decided to contribute 30 per cent of the pension amount every month to the COVID-19 Relief Fund in Puducherry to strengthen the financial position of the administration to combat the pandemic." He also appealed to others to follow suit and help augment the state's funds. Narayanasamy also hailed President Ram Nath Kovind's announcement to forgo 30 per cent of his salary for the PM CARES fund to combat the pandemic.

The chief minister also urged government staff to extend their cooperation to help the administration wriggle out of the current fiscal crisis due tpcaused by the COVID-19 induced lockdown. He referred to the salary cut for government staff effected by several States including Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the Tamil Nadu government's move to freeze hike in DA as a measure to fight pandemic.

Narayanasamy said he had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to bring the "poor financial position of Puducherry government" to their notice. "I will seek the Centre's cooperation to help Puducherry recover from the present critical position," he added.

He reiterated his plea to the Centre to provide Rs 5,000 to every poor family so that the poorer sections would have the wherewithal to purchase grains and carry on their life. Narayanasamy appealed to people in the Union Territory "to learn to live with the virus as the institutions like WHO had already expressed the view that the pandemic would not vanish." Meanwhile, Lt Governor Kiran Bedi has also announced several austerity measures.

In her WhatsApp message to mediapersons, she said she had put on hold purchase of a new car for the office of Puducherry government in New Delhi. Bedi said she had been donating one-third of her salary each month to the PM CARES Fund even before the pandemic set in.

Hailing the President for announcing that he would forgo 30 per cent of his monthly salary, she said he had set the right example for the whole country through his gesture.PTI COR PTI PTI.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)