(a) whether the Government has released funds for the Bhagalpur district and the Bihar State under special assistance;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the eligibility of Bihar State for this purpose including the amount of funds released, Year-wise; and
(c) if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE
(SHR ANURAG SINGH THAKUR)
(a) to (c): Yes Sir. The Union Government through the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance provides resources to States including Bihar under the head ‘Special Assistance’ under the Demand for Grants ‘Transfers to States’. The provision under the head ‘Special Assistance’ has been earmarked for (a) spill over committed liabilities for which budget provision is not made after implementation of Fourteenth Finance Commission recommendations (b) other need based assistance to the States. Grants-in-aid towards residual liabilities of the Special Plan for Bihar – State Component, now part of the Prime Minister’s Package for Bihar, 2015 and one time assistance towards support for developing water sources for arsenic and fluoride affected areas have been released to the State of Bihar under the head ‘Special Assistance’. Year-wise details of releases under the head ‘Special Assistance’ to the State of Bihar are provided in the Table below:
(Rs. in crore)
Year 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21
Amount of Funds Released 1910.36* 1329.40 3414.00 739.47 - -
*: Out of this, Rs. 22.83 crore was released as one time assistance towards support for developing water sources for arsenic and fluoride affected areas.
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