Grants For Non-Million Plus Cities:
Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance released an amount of 1154.90 crore rupees to four states for providing grants to Urban Local Bodies.
- The States to which grants were released are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, and Sikkim.
- The grants released are meant for Non-Million Plus cities including Cantonment Boards.
- The 15th Finance Commission in its report for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 has divided the Urban Local Bodies into two categories.
- These are Million-Plus urban agglomerations and cities excluding Delhi and Srinagar, and all other cities and towns with less than one million population.
- The 15th Finance Commission has recommended separate grants for them.
- Out of the total grants recommended by the Commission for Non-Million Plus cities, 40 percent is a basic grant and the remaining 60 percent is a tied grant. Basic grants are utilized for location-specific felt needs, except for payment of salary and incurring other establishment expenditures.
- On the other hand, tied grants for the Non-Million Plus cities are released for supporting and strengthening the delivery of basic services.
- Out of the total tied grant, 50 percent is earmarked for ‘Sanitation Solid Waste Management and attainment of star ratings as developed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
- The remaining 50 percent is tied to ‘Drinking water, rainwater harvesting and water recycling’.
