Grant-in-aid of Rs. 4,189.58 crore released to Rural Local Bodies in Karnataka, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat

Total grant of Rs. 15,705.65 crore has been released to Rural Local bodies so far in 2022-23

The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, on Wednesday released an amount of Rs. 4,189.58 crore to Karnataka (Rs. 628.07 crore), Tripura (Rs. 44.10 crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 2239.80 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs. 569.01 crore) and Gujarat (Rs. 708.60 crore) for providing grants to the Rural Local Bodies.  This Grant-in-aid is the 1st installment of Tied grants of the year 2022-23 released in favour of Karnataka, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and 2^nd installment of Tied grants of the year 2021-22 released in favour of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

15^th Finance Commission (FC-XV) recommended Tied grants are released to Rural Local Bodies(RLBs) on the recommendations of the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation for making improvements on two critical services namely (a) Sanitation and maintenance of open-defecation free (ODF) status and (b) supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.

Out of the total Grant-in-aid earmarked for Panchayati Raj institutions, 60 percent is earmarked for national priorities like drinking water supply, rainwater harvesting and sanitation (referred as tied grants), while 40 percent is untied and is to be utilized at the discretion of the Panchayati Raj institutions for location specific felt needs.

The Local Body grants are meant to ensure additional funds to Rural local bodies over and above the funds allocated by the Centre and the State for sanitation and drinking water under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

In order to be eligible for grants during the years 2021-22 and 2022-23, Rural Local Bodies have to fulfill certain conditions.  These conditions have been stipulated to enhance transparency, regular conduct of elections to the local bodies and preparation of annual development plans by the local bodies.

To receive both tied and untied grants, it is mandatory to prepare and make available online, in the public domain by at least 25 percent of the local bodies, both provisional accounts of the previous year and the audited accounts of the year before previous year.  Moreover, the accounts must be uploaded on eGramswaraj and Audit Online portal.  The grant is released only to those local bodies which are duly elected.

In addition, to be eligible to receive tied grant, Rural Local bodies shall upload development plans on eGramSwaraj containing details of Annual Action Plan for Sanitation and Drinking Water Supply.  Annual Action Plan for Drinking Water Supply shall include details about Supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.  Annual Action Plan for Sanitation shall include the status & maintenance of ODF and planning and implementation of SLWM interventions in the local body.  Local bodies must also upload the details of utilization 15^th F.C. funds [both components] on the website.

The States are required to transfer the grants to the local bodies within 10 working days of receipt from the Union Government.  Any delay beyond 10 working days requires the State Governments to release the grants with interest. 

State-wise amount of Rural Local Bodies Grants released so far in 2022-23 is given below;

State-wise amount of Rural Local Bodies Grants released in 2022-23

S. No.	Name of the State	Total amount released during 2022-23 [upto 31-08-2022] Rs. in crore.
1	Andhra Pradesh	948.35
2	Arunachal Pradesh	0.00
3	Assam	0.00
4	Bihar	1921.00
5	Chhattisgarh	557.00
6	Goa	0.00
7	Gujarat	1181.00
8	Haryana	0.00
9	Himachal Pradesh	224.30
10	Jharkhand	249.80
11	Karnataka	1046.78
12	Kerala	623.00
13	Madhya Pradesh	1472.00
14	Maharashtra	1092.92
15	Manipur	0.00
16	Meghalaya	40.50
17	Mizoram	0.00
18	Nagaland	18.40
19	Orissa	864.00
20	Punjab	0.00
21	Rajasthan	0.00
22	Sikkim	6.60
23	Tamil Nadu	1380.50
24	Telangana	273.00
25	Tripura	73.50
26	Uttar Pradesh	3733.00
27	Uttarakhand	0.00
28	West Bengal	0.00
x	Total	15705.65

*Figures are rounded off to the two place of decimal.

Tied grants to rural local bodies: release conditioned on elected status, online accounts and uploaded water and sanitation plans. Sixty percent of Panchayati Raj grants are tied to sanitation and drinking water priorities and forty percent are untied for local use. Release of both tied and untied grants is conditional on duly elected local bodies meeting transparency requirements: at least twenty-five percent must upload provisional and audited accounts on eGramSwaraj and Audit Online, and local bodies seeking tied grants must upload Annual Action Plans detailing sanitation and drinking water interventions and utilisation of Fifteenth Finance Commission funds. States must transfer funds to local bodies within ten working days or pay interest for delays.