The Finance Ministry on Sunday has released an amount of over Rs 8900 crore as grants to panchayats a month in advance. This will be distributed among 25 States.

As per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, the first instalment of untied grants was to scheduled to be released to the States in the month of June. However, in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic situation and at the recommendation of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, the Finance Ministry has decided to release the grant this month.

The grants of Rs 8923.8 crore are meant for all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions – village, block and district, the statement said. This is the first instalment of the ‘Untied Grants’ for the year 2021-22. It could be utilised by the RLBs for various purposes, especially for the prevention and mitigation of Covid-19.

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. 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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