GUWAHATI, June 10 � Seeking to allay apprehensions that States would witness a drastic reduction in the flow of Central funds following the withdrawal of the Special Category status to the North-eastern States, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Birender Singh today said that the States stood to gain more after the Centre had accepted in toto the 14th Finance Commission recommendations.
�For instance, the States are getting Rs 2.32 lakh crore for their Gram Panchayats (GPs), with even the smallest GPs assured of getting Rs 16 lakh under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana in the next five years. Similarly, an amount of Rs 2,600 crore has been released to the States for rural drinking water projects under the 2015-16 Budget,� Singh said in a press conference.
The minister said that with the country likely to witness 12-14 per cent deficit rainfall this year, the States had been asked to prepare their action plans and �they should have no problem with drinking water even if there is drought.�
Singh said that there was in fact a �steep increase� in funding the States as �we want to promote a federalism that is competitive and cooperative.�
Singh said that the Assam Government had received Rs 198 crore under the MGNREGS this year and the next installment would be made after June. �For IAY, it has got the first installment of Rs 416 crore out of a total allocation of Rs 865 crore. For PMGSY � the Centre�s most successful flagship project � Rs 80 crore has been released out of a total allocation of Rs 184 crore,� he added.