The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has 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 is the first installment of the ‘Untied Grants’ for FY22. It may be utilised by RLBs, among other things, for various prevention and mitigation measures needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The amount released to states under the first installment is -- Uttar Pradesh worth Rs 1,441.6 crore; Maharashtra worth Rs 861.4 crore; Bihar worth Rs 741.8 crore; West Bengal worth Rs 652.2 crore; Madhya Pradesh worth Rs 588.8 crore, among others.
As per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the first installment 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 and at the recommendation of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the Ministry of Finance has decided to release the grant in advance of normal schedule.
Moreover, the 15th Finance 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.
However, taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances, this condition has been waived for release of the first installment.