Odisha govt increases corpus of Contingency Fund to Rs1,900cr

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday decided to increase the corpus of Odisha Contingency Fund (OCF) from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1900 crore. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet to ensure that there is no disruption of funds to meet expenditure on relief, repair and restoration works required due to the recent twin calamities in the state. As the present corpus of the Contingency Fund is inadequate to meet the requirement, the government decided to increase the amount to Rs 1900 crore, state Finance minister Prasanna Acharya said. "It is imperative in the interest of public service to temporarily increase the corpus of the Contingency Fund," Acharya said. Stating that since Odisha Legislative Assembly is not in session, Acharya said to meet the urgent and emergent need, the corpus of the fund is to be enhanced by an ordinance. "It would not be possible to utilise the balance available in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and grant receivable from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for relief, repair and restoration work without making supplementary provision in the budget which would take a long time," sources said. The ordinance will be sent to the Governor for approval, the minister 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 OCS was enhanced from Rs 150 crore to Rs 400 crore by the Odisha Contingency Fund (Amended) Act, 2008 to meet the emergent expenditure.