Naveen Patnaik sanctions Rs 67.52 lakh from CMRF for stray animals

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday sanctioned Rs 67.52 lakh from the Chief Minister Relief Fund (CMRF) for the welfare of stray animals in the state.

"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sanctioned an amount of Rs 67,52,000 from CMRF today for stray animals in urban areas. This amount will be used to feed stray animals during the extended lockdown period," reads an official press release.

While the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spend Rs 20 thousand per day till the extended lockdown period; other 4 municipal corporations each can spend Rs 10 thousand per day till the extended lockdown period for stray animals, the release informed.

48 municipalities each can spend Rs 5 thousand and 61 Notified Area Councils (NACs) can spend Rs 2 thousand each for the welfare of animals. It may be mentioned here that the Chief Minister had earlier sanctioned Rs 1,13,94,000 this year in two phases for this purpose.

Cuttack municipal corporation (CMC) also gets Rs 15 crore from CMRF for COVID-19 Management. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today sanctioned an amount of Rs 15 crores from CMRF for COVID-19 management in the Cuttack municipal corporation area.

Earlier CMC had received Rs 26,71,19144 crores for this purpose. With this, the total amount of money sanctioned to CMC becomes Rs 41,71,19,144 for COVID-19 management.

In view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday wrote to Chief Ministers of all states and Union Territories stating that instead of competing against each other for vaccines, they should arrive at a consensus to demand a centralised procurement of global Covid-19 vaccines by the Centre.

In his letter yesterday, CM Patnaik said: "But this cannot be a battle among the states to compete against each other to procure vaccines". Patnaik had said that he has written to the Union Government in this regard. However, he suggested that "all the State Governments should come to a consensus on this issue for early resolution of this problem. We should act fast before any third wave comes and creates further havoc".

Meanwhile, Odisha logged 2,235 fresh COVID-19 cases, 10,594 discharges and 40 deaths, as per the Union Health Ministry today.

( With inputs from ANI )