Odishatv Bureau
Bhubaneswar: The State government on Thursday increased the corpus of Odisha Contingency Fund (OCF) from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1900 crore to ensure that there was no disruption of funds to meet expenditure on relief, repair and restoration work caused due to the recent twin calamities.
 
A decision in this regard was taken by the State Cabinet which considered that the present corpus of the OCF was inadequate and a sizable amount was required to meet the expenditure.
 
“Since the State Assembly is not in session, and to meet the urgent and emergent need, the corpus of the fund is to be enhanced by an Ordinance,” an official release said.
 
“It would not be possible to utilise the balance available in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and grant receivable from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for relief, repair and restoration work without making supplementary provision in the budget which would take a long time….Hence it is imperative in the interest of the public service to increase the corpus of the Contingency Fund from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1900 crore temporarily,” the release added.
 
The ordinance will be sent to the Governor for approval, State Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya said, adding, the state government could increase the corpus amount through an amendment to the Odisha Contingency Fund Act 1967 (Odisha Act 18 of 1967).

According to sources, the corpus of the OCF was enhanced from Rs 150 crore to Rs 400 crore by the Odisha Contingency Fund (Amended) Act, 2008 to meet the emergent expenditure.

 
 
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