Ever since Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin made an appeal to the people to come forward and donate to the Chief Minister Public Relief Fund (CMPRF) to aid the government in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the public funding platform has been flooded with donations from people of all walks of lives from across and beyond the borders. 

On May 11, the Chief Minister had appealed to the people to donate to the fund to help the government financially in its efforts to arrest the COVID-19 spread and augment the medical infrastructure in the state. Several people including Kollywood celebrities, political leaders, businessmen, and the general public have been donating money to the relief fund either by meeting Stalin directly or donating online. 

The state government has revealed the total donation received by the relief fund. On Sunday, a release from the government has said that the relief fund has received Rs 181 crore as a donation as of May 23 from individuals and industries. The statement stated that the government has released Rs 50 crore from the public relief fund to procure RT-PCR testing kits to enhance the testing in the state. 

Last Monday, the government has said that the CMPRF has received Rs 69 crore and in a week, the fund has received additional 100 crores as donations. The Chief Minister has asserted that transparency will be observed in the utilization of the fund and the donations will be rooted only for the COVID-related treatment. Earlier last week, the Tamil Nadu government has allocated Rs 50 crore from the CMPRF to procure life-saving drugs to treat COVID-19 patients and get liquid oxygen from other states. 

The allocation has been made from the donation to the relief fund. While Rs 25 crore was utilized to procure Remdesivir drug and other lifesaving drugs used for the treatment of the Corona hit patients, Rs 25 crore was released to procure containers for transporting liquid medical oxygen from other states. The Chief Minister has said that the people can avail tax exemption for the donations made to the relief fund.

Even as Tamil Nadu has entered the complete lockdown for a week on Monday - May 24, the Chief Minister has urged the people to refrain from meeting him directly to hand over the donation and instructed them to donate online. On Sunday, Tamil Nadu has reported 35,483 fresh COVID-19 cases, 25,196 discharges, and 422 deaths. Overall, Tamil Nadu has recorded 18,42,344 cases so far as of Sunday of which 2,94,143 are active, 15,27,733 have been discharged, and 20,468 people had succumbed to the viral infection.