Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sanctioned Rs 78.76 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for 13 institutions run by the Missionaries of Charity in the state, ANI reported on Tuesday.
These 13 institutions are located in eight districts of the state.
The chief minister’s office said that over 900 inmates of orphanages and hospitals for leprosy patients will benefit from the decision.
On December 30, Patnaik had directed district collectors to ensure that no resident of homes and orphanages run by the Missionaries of Charity in the state suffer from lack of food or bad health.
He had added that money from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund can be used to mitigate problems faced by the charitable organisation.
The Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, runs more than 240 homes for orphans, the destitute and AIDS patients across India. On December 27, it had asked all its centres to not operate the organisation’s foreign contribution accounts after the home ministry refused to renew the permission to receive funds from abroad.
The ministry said in a press release that the organisation’s application was refused for failing to meet the eligibility conditions under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules 2011.
The Catholic organisation said that its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration had not been suspended or cancelled. But the organisation said it had asked its units not to operate any accounts that receive foreign contributions “until the matter is resolved”...“as a measure to ensure there is no lapse”.
Several Opposition leaders had criticised the central government in connection with the matter. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien claimed that the Centre had pressured the Missionaries of Charity to issue the statement as a form of “damage control”.
“First the Government of India INTIMIDATES,” he had said in a tweet. “For weeks, right through to December 25. And then they pile on the pressure to extract this [the statement]. Shame on the MHA and its shameless damage control tactics.”
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