Aftercontributing one month's salary to the PM-CARES fund in March, President RamNath Kovind on Thursday said he would "forego" 30 per cent of hissalary for the fund for a year and reduce expenses of the Rashtrapati Bhavan aspart of the steps to make more resources available for Covid-19 reliefmeasures.
ThePresident also decided to defer purchase of the Presidential Limousine whichwas to be used for ceremonial occasions. The existing resources of theRashtrapati Bhavan and the government will be shared and used for suchoccasions.
ThePresident has instructed the Rashtrapati Bhavan to set an example byeconomising the expenditure, making optimal use of resources and dovetailingthe saved money to combat Covid-19 and mitigate the people's economic plight.
Repairand maintenance work will be minimised in the Rashtrapati Bhavan to ensureupkeep of assets and there will be a substantial reduction in the use of officeconsumables. For instance, the Rashtrapati Bhavan will use e-technology to cutdown 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.
Thedomestic tours and programmes will be substantially reduced in order to followthe social distancing restrictions and minimise the expenditure that suchexercises entail, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said.
