Centre releases Rs. 8923.8 crore to Panchayats in 25 States

* Release of grant advanced in view of COVID-19 pandemic 
 
The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance,yesterday released an amount of Rs. 8,923.8 crore to 25 States for providing grants to the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs). The grants are meant for all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions – village, block and district.

The amount released on Saturday is the first instalment of the ‘Untied Grants’ for the year 2021-22. It may be utilised by the RLBs, among other things, for various prevention and mitigation measures needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, it will augment resources to the three tiers of Panchayats for fighting the contagion. The state-wise amount of the grant released is enclosed.

As per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the 1stinstalment of untied grants was to be released to the States in the month of June, 2021. However, in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation and at the recommendation of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the Ministry of Finance has decided to release the grant in advance of the normal schedule.

Moreover, the 15thFinance Commission had imposed certain conditions for release of untied grants. The conditions include online availability of accounts of a certain percentage of Rural Local Bodies in the public domain. But taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances, this condition has been waived for release of the first instalment of untied grants.

State-wise details of 1st instalment of Rural Local Bodies untied grants released for the year 2021-22

S. No.

Name of State

Amount (Rs. in crore)

1

Andhra Pradesh

387.8

2

Arunachal Pradesh

34

3

Assam

237.2

4

Bihar

741.8

5

Chhattisgarh

215

6

Gujarat

472.4

7

Haryana

187

8

Himachal Pradesh

63.4

9

Jharkhand

249.8

10

Karnataka

475.4

11

Kerala

240.6

12

Madhya Pradesh

588.8

13

Maharashtra

861.4

14

Manipur

26.2

15

Mizoram

13.8

16

Odisha

333.8

17

Punjab

205.2

18

Rajasthan

570.8

19

Sikkim

6.2

20

Tamil Nadu

533.2

21

Telangana

273

22

Tripura

28.2

23

Uttar Pradesh

1441.6

24

Uttarakhand

85

25

West Bengal

652.2

 

Total

8923.8