President of India Ram Nath Kovind has decided to give up 30 per cent of his salary for a year to aid country in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.The President had earlier donated his one month’s salary to the PM CARES Fund in March. The Rashtrapati Bhavan, in a statement, said, “As a part of steps to make more resources available for Covid-19 relief measures, the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, after contributing one month’s salary to the PM-CARES Fund in March, has decided to forego 30 percent of his salary for a year.”
The President has instructed the Rashtrapati Bhavan to set an example by reducing the expenses. To reduce its expenditure, the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday announced undertaking some measures that include no new capital works during financial year 2020-21 and only completion of the ongoing works.Repair and maintenance work will be minimised in the Rashtrapati Bhavan to ensure upkeep of assets and there will be a substantial reduction in the use of office consumables. For instance, the Rashtrapati Bhavan will use e-technology to cut down the use of paper to avoid wastage and make the office eco-friendly. Efforts will be made to save energy and fuel by rationalising their usage.
The domestic tours and programmes will be substantially reduced in order to follow the social distancing restrictions and minimise the expenditure that such exercises entail, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said. Instead, the President will largely rely on technology to reach out to people, said the statement.It is estimated that these measures will save nearly 20 per cent of the budget of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the current financial year.