Centre releases ₹ 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 ₹ 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

Untied grants advanced to rural local bodies to bolster pandemic mitigation and operational capacity across Panchayats. The central government released the first instalment of Untied Grants to Rural Local Bodies across village, block and district Panchayats to augment resources for pandemic prevention and mitigation. The disbursement was advanced ahead of the normal schedule because of the pandemic, state-wise allocations for 25 States are provided, and the usual Finance Commission condition requiring online availability of accounts for a proportion of RLBs has been waived for this instalment.