Kashmir COVID19 Jammu and Kashmir: Govt advances grant of Rs 8923.8 crto Panchayats for COVID relief
Srinagar: The Finance ministry has released an amount of Rs 8,923.8 crore to 25 States as grantsto the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs).
The grants are meant for all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions – village, blockand district.
The amount released on Saturday is the first instalment of the ‘Untied Grants’ for theyear 2021-22. It is meant to be utilised by the RLBs, among other things, for variousprevention and mitigation measures needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, itwill augment resources to the three tiers of Panchayats for fighting the contagion.
As per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the first instalment ofuntied grants was to be released to the States in the month of June, 2021.
However, inview of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation and at the recommendation of theMinistry of Panchayati Raj, the Ministry of Finance decided to release the grant inadvance of the normal schedule, a finance ministry statement said.
Moreover, the 15thFinance Commission had imposed certain conditions for release of untied grants.
Theconditions include online availability of accounts of a certain percentage of Rural LocalBodies 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.
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