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Dimapur, Jan. 27(EMN): The Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance has released INR 12,351.5 crore to 18 states for providing grants to the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs). This is the second instalment of basic grants released in the financial year 2020-21.
The grant has been released to 18 states that have provided the utilisation certificate for the first instalment and on the recommendation of the ministry of Panchayati Raj, a PIB report stated on Wednesday.
The department has asked the state to transfer the grants to the RLBs within 10 working days of receipt from the union government. It stated that any delay beyond 10 working days required the state governments to release the grants with interest.
Nagaland has received an amount of INR 62.50 crore so far as grants to the RLBs in the first instalment; INR 31.25 (basic grants) and INR 31.25 (tied grants) in June and July 2020 respectively.
The first instalment of basic grants to RLBs and arrears of 14th Finance Commission amounting to INR 18,199 crore was released to all the states in June, 2020. Subsequently, the 1st instalment of tied grants amounting to INR 15,187.50 crore was also released to all the states. Thus, a total amount of INR 45,738 crore of both basic and tied grants has been released so far by the department of Expenditure to the states for RLBs.
"The grants are released as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission to create community assets and improve financial viability of the RLBs. The grants are provided to all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj- village, block and district to enable pooling of resources across villages and blocks," the report stated.
The grants were meant to ensure additional funds to RLBs over and above the funds allocated by the centre and the state for sanitation and drinking water under the centrally sponsored schemes like Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan Mission.
The 15th Finance Commission has recommended two types of grants to the RLBs – basic and tied grants. Basic grants are untied and could be used by the local bodies for location specific felt needs except for salary or other establishment expenditure. The tied grants could also be used for the basic services of (a) sanitation and maintenance of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status and (b) supply of drinking water, rainwater harvesting and water recycling, the report stated.