Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) Team Anna received Rs.2.94 crore in donations in the six months since Anna Hazare began his first fast in April with Rs. 1.14 crore being collected during his August protest at the Ramlila ground, India Against Corruption (IAC) said in its website Tuesday.

Of this, Rs.42.55 lakh would be returned due to lack of clarity about the donors, leaving IAC with Rs.2.51 crore.

“During the past six months, hundreds of thousands of people participated in various Jan Lokpal programmes across the country with their physical presence, thousands contributed financially too,” IAC said in its account of income and expenditure from April to September.

According to IAC, 27,505 people have donated to the movement. Of these, 25,023 donated at Ramlila ground alone.

“This number is actually higher since some contributions were offered by one individual after collecting from a neighborhood, village or group,” it said.

The maximum single contribution has been of Rs.25 lakh, followed by donations of Rs.4 lakh and of Rs. 3 lakh. More than 400 contributions were of Rs.10,000 or more.

However, 23,138 contributions were of Rs.1,000 or less.

“It has been heartwarming to note that 23,138 contributions were of Rs.1,000 or less. It has been humbling and moving to note that people with very limited resources contributed with sums like Rs. 1, 2 and 5 of their hard-earned money. This means more to us than millions stashed away illegally,” IAC said.

At the Ramlila ground, Rs. 98,98,106 was contributed in cash and Rs.15,18,330 through cheques.

Of the Rs.2.51 crore, Team Anna has spent Rs.1.5 crore in the past six months with Rs 52.27 lakh being spent on public meetings, mainly the Ramlila ground agitation.

The Team spent Rs.45.50 lakh on creating “public awareness”, Rs.26.55 lakh on printing, Rs.9.83 lakh on travel and RS.2.68 lakh on communications.

The accounts come after former Team Anna member Swami Agnivesh alleged that some donations made at Ramlila ground were unaccounted for.