Clean Ganga Fund Received Rs 132 Crores As Donation
The Clean Ganga Fund (CGF) launched by the NDA government as part of its ambitious mission to clean the river has received more than Rs 132 crore in donations.
“An amount of Rs 132,43,81,681 has been received in Clean Ganga Fund from residents, NRIs, public sector undertakings and private cooperatives till June 30,” said Minister of State for Water Resources Vijay Goel in a reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
The government has identified 110 cities where untreated sewage was being released into rivers or lakes and taking necessary steps for clean up.
“Private companies can contribute their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to the Clean Ganga Fund, which is a notified CSR activity…They can also donate to CGF from their general funds to avail tax benefit under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961,” said Goel in a reply to another question.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved establishment of CGF, to be used for projects planned under ambitious Namami Gange programme, on September 4, 2014.
Meanwhile, the government has turned to state-run companies to contribute to an account that has been created to finance the Prime Minister’s pet Swachh Bharat programme.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has sent out an advisory, asking public sector undertakings to deposit the money that they could not spend on Corporate Social Responsibility programmes in the last fiscal year in the Swachh Bharat Kosh (SBK), said officials at two PSUs.
According to the new Companies Act, a company with a net worth of Rs 100 crore or more has to set aside a minimum 2% of the three-year average annual net profit for CSR activities.
(With Inputs from The Indian Express and The Economic Times)
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