Bhubaneswar: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by Leader of Opposition in Assembly Pradipta Kumar Naik Friday expressed dissatisfaction over poor spending of funds by companies under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
During a meeting of the PAC held in the Assembly here, Naik and other members have raised concern over poor performance on CSR spending.
Though the companies are making huge profits, they spend very negligible amount on CSR activities. The fund is being used as per whims and fancies of the companies, as they do not mention the profits they earn, Naik said.
According to sources, a total of Rs 603.29 crore was spent under CSR by various companies operating in the state during 2015-16 while it has been reduced to Rs 156 crore in 2018-19, even though the number of corporate firms gone up during the period.
Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra, who is a member of the Committee, said, “The companies should spend 2 per cent of the profit earned towards CSR activities. But they are not doing so. Surprisingly, everyone is silent.”
Stating that CSR funds are not utilised properly as per the requirements of the people, Mishra alleged that companies are cheating the public.
The PAC has given a few suggestions to the department concerned which will be discussed in the next meeting, the leader added.
However, Finance Secretary Ashok K Meena said that CSR fund is being utilised as per the policies of the Centre while the state government can only request companies to spend more.
“The PAC wanted to know how the state is encouraging the companies to spend 2 per cent of the profit towards CSR. We submitted a report to them in this regard. They have also asked for a status report mentioning that the state has pursued companies for proper utilisation of CSR funds,” said Meena.
