Raipur, Apr 22 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh government has requested to the Centre to immediately transfer to the state the CSR funds donated to Prime Minister CARES Fund by the industrial and mining units operating in the state for the fight against COVID-19, an official said on Wednesday.

State Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel made this request in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

In the letter, Baghel urged Modi to give instructions to the officials concerned that the CSR funds donated to the PM CARES Fund by the mining and industrial units in Chhattisgarh should be immediately transferred to the state government, the official said.

"If this amount is supposed to be spent for the prevention and control of COVID-19, then the state government should be entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the expenditure of these CSR funds in only those districts, which are affected by mining or industrial projects and now bearing the brunt of COVID-19 infection," Baghel said in the letter.

The CSR fund was established to tide over the hardships faced by people living in the vicinity of mining projects or industrial units and their problems as result of displacement, pollution and other such reasons, he said.

Baghel also said in the letter that under the current circumstances due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Centre has given instructions to all the mining projects (operators) and industrial units to deposit their CSR funds directly into the PM CARES Fund and they have started complying with the order.

"The Union Government's decision will deprive the people living in the vicinityof mining areas and industries from the basic facilities and there is dissatisfaction among them with the move," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)