Declaration
of Chief Minister sanctioning Rs.289 crore COVID package to boost MSMEs is far
from truth.
No
such information is available with Govt., exposed under RTI
Dear friends
On 16.12.20, Govt. of Odisha made a
press release which was
covered and highlighted in almost all news papers that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved Rs. 289.42
crore package for the pandemic-hit
Micro, Small and Medium enterprises ( MSMEs). While approving, the Chief
Minister declared that the Package comes with assistance like interest
subvention, top-up subsidy , reimbursement
of state GST and waiver of annual institutional maintenance charges.
The Package will benefit several entrepreneurs, mostly women and those
from weaker sections of society in the MSME sector which faced huge crisis due to
unexpected challenges of COVID-19.
I had a little bit
doubt about this declaration. I have
witnessed many times false information released by Govt. of Odisha to media
and media without verifying authenticity
of information simply highlighted it in their front page and as breaking news in electronics media.
On 12.5.21, I had filed RTI Application to the PIO, Dept. of MSME , Govt. of Odisha
seeking following information in
my usual pursuit of verifying authenticity of information declared by Chief Minister and
highlighted in media.
i. Date
on which Rs. 289 cr
sanctioned as per
the declaration of Chief
Minister and its purpose
ii. Details of
source from which this
amount was sanctioned.
iii. List of
the entrepreneurs which
have benefitted under
this package , details of
amount released to
each of them and purpose like
interest subvention, top-up subsidy , reimbursement of state
GST , waiver of annual
institutional maintenance charge.
iv. Provide total amount
already utilized by May 21 .
RTI Application was forwarded to the office of Director of
Industries to supply the
information. On 24.6.21, the PIO,
Director of Industries vide letter No.
Estt-VIII-RTI-54/2021 .No. 4686
supplied the following information.
| i. Date on which Rs. 289 cr sanctioned as per the declaration of Chief Minister and its purpose. |
Top-up Subsidy under Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Programme |
|
ii. Details of |
40- Demand Number |
|
iii. List of |
List of 3577 |
|
iv. Provide total amount already |
No |
|
|
|
Besides that the PIO has also provided that as per the declaration of Hon’ble Chief Minister’s COVID package, an amount of
Rs. 5.00 crore has
been sanctioned by MSME Department , Govt. of Odisha under Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food processing Enterprise ( PMFME) during the year 2020-21. Vide issue no. 1363 dt. 18.2.21. This amount has been drawn and transferred to APICOL
as State Nodal Agency ( SNA)
under PMFME for providing
additional 15% top-up subsidy to the sanctioned beneficiary under credit linkage scheme
of PMFME.
Rs. 32.00 crore have
been disbursed to 417 units towards reimbursement of net SGST /
reimbursement of VAT and interest
subsidy under the COVID -19 Package
during the year FY 2020-21.
In another Reply , the Additional Director of Industries
( Hqr) supplied that “ Due
to COVID -19, as per the special
package announced by Hon’ble Chief Minister for MSME sector, there is a
target of State Government to
provide interest subvention of Rs. 108 crore to the account assisted under ECLGS ( Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme @ 2% for men and 5% for women enterprises
for the year 2020-21 , which will be
effective when the moratorium is over. It means this amount
has not been released to any entrepreneur.
Analysis
A. It is proved
that news about Chief Minister sanctioning Rs.289 crore
COVID package to boost MSMEs following Govt. press
release is completely
false. Because the PIO precariously
failed to supply any
information about it.
B. Only an amount
of Rs. 64 crore
has been disbursed as COVID package
to 417 enterprise Units and 3577 entrepreneurs. Out
of it, An amount of Rs. 32 .00 crore
is central Govt. fund released
by Govt. of Odisha under Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Programme
and PMFME.
C. An
amount of Rs. 108 crore has been earmarked but not
disbursed by Govt. to
provide interest subvention to the account of enterprises assisted
under ECLGS ( Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme).
Pradip Pradhan
M- 9937843482
Date- 28.6.21
P
