Preparations to curb loot of CSR funds, if rules are changed then Rs 1,000 crore will be available:Sai

Raipur (Team Newsbuddy): Commerce, Industry Minister Lakhanlal Dewangan has written a letter to Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai urging to spend the amount of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through the state government. For this, he has raised the demand for changing the rules. According to the information, the CSR item used to come to the state government earlier, which has been stopped by the central government by making amendments. The companies work as per the demand of the residents there. Now neither the state government gets the funds nor are they under the jurisdiction of the state. BJP MLAs had also raised the issue in the assembly on this. Minister Dewangan, in a letter to Chief Minister Sai, has urged the central government to make necessary coordination to hand over the expenditure and construction work of the CSR item to the state government. The minister has mentioned that the information about how much was spent in the CSR fund is not being given to the government. It is noteworthy that at present, as per the rules of the Company Act, the CSR fund is used by the industries themselves.

Need for clear policy and rules

The Industry Minister said that if CSR expenditure is done at the government level, then the basic facilities of the people affected by the industries will be increased. Many works can be done for the people from tribal areas to rural, urban, semi-urban areas. Also, the damage to the environment can be compensated. There is a need to make clear policy rules regarding the expenditure and construction work done from the CSR item.