PRIs & ULBs in Odisha to get Rs 23,848 crore in six years

Bhubaneswar: Panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies (ULBs) in Odisha would get funds to the tune of Rs 23,848 crore over a period of six years as per the recommendation of the 5th State Finance Commission, officials said on Tuesday.

This was revealed by Finance secretary A K Meena after a high-level monitoring committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary A K Tripathy. He said around Rs 23,848 crore would be transferred to these bodies over a period of six years from 2020-21 to 2025-26.

Meena said the funds will be transferred to PRIs and ULBs in tranches. The first instalment in the month of May- June and second instalment in the month of October-November every year, he said.

The second instalment would be released only after completion of the 30 per cent of the work taken up under the fund, he said, adding that the PRIs and ULBs will have to submit the utilisation certificates in time as per specifications of the Finance department.

The chief secretary directed the department to release the funds directly to the GPs (gram panchayats), Panchayat Samities and Zilla Parishads through ”PRIASOFT” integrated with the online Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) system.

Of the total fund of Rs 23,848 crore, around Rs 7,321 crore would be under the head of devolution, Rs 9,678 crore under assignment of taxes, and around Rs 6,849 crore as grant-in-aid, he said.

“While the PRIs will get a total amount of around Rs 15,715.60 crore, the ULBs will avail an amount of around Rs 8,132.52 crore during this six years period,” Meena said.

The meeting also resolved that the funds would be utilized for projects like drinking water, water harvesting structures, sanitation, solid waste management, running of projects through solar power and construction of primary school buildings.

The funds may also be spent on maintenance of health sub-centres, Anganwadi centres, livestock centres, roads, culverts, creation of water bodies in urban areas, establishment of water quality testing labs, critical gap in drainage network, drainage of storm water and maintenance of other community assets for which no specific maintenance grant is available, Meena said.

Tripathy also directed the ULBs to diversify their revenue base and set a target to achieve six per cent increase in annual revenue generation.

Earlier, the fifth State Finance Commission headed by Rabinarayan Senapati had submitted its recommendations on the transfer of funds to PRIs and ULBs.

(PTI)