Only 9 States eligible for Performance Grants of Urban Local Bodies in 2014-15

Only 9 of 29 States in the country were found eligible for release of Performance Grants of Urban Local Bodies during 2014-15 and as per the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, these nine states were released Performance Grant of Rs.457.91 cr. This was stated by the Minister of State for Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri Babul Supriyo in a Written Reply in Rajya Sabha today.

The States that received Performance Grant of Urban Local Bodies include: Uttar Pradesh which received a grant of Rs.146.46 cr, Madhya Pradesh(Rs.74.11 cr), Rajasthan (Rs.59.23 cr), Andhra Pradesh (Rs.47.76 cr), Telangana (Rs.47.41 cr), Kerala (Rs.36.02 cr), Haryana (Rs.21.58 cr), Chattisgarh (Rs.20.68 cr) and Mizoram which received a Grant of Rs.4.66 cr.

13 States met the 9 Essential Criteria for Performance Grant as stipulated by the 13th Finance Commission only partially in the range of 1 to 8. These include : Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab which met 8 of the 9 criteria, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand (6), Assam and J&K (5), Sikkim (3), Tamil Nadu (2) and West Bengal and Goa met only one of the 9 Essential Criteria.

7 States did not claim the Grant which included : Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha and Tripura.

Conditions stipulated by the 13th Finance Commission for release of Performance Grant of Urban Local Bodies include:

1.Ensuring a separate supplement to the budget documents for Urban Local Bodies and ensuring accounting as per National Municipal Accounts Manual;

2.Tabling in State Legislatures the Annual Report of the Director of Local Fund Audit in respect of ULBs;

3.Appointment of an Ombudsman for elected functionaries and officials of all ULBs;

4. Electronic transfer of grants to ULBs within five days of their receipt from the central government;

5.Enactment stipulating qualifications for appointment as Members of StateFinance Commission;

6.Empowering ULBs to levy property tax;

7.Putting in place a state level Property Tax Board along with annual work plan;

8.State governments shall notify by March 31 every year service level benchmarks in respect of Water supply, Sewerage, Storm water drainage and Solid waste management; and

9. All Municipal Corporations with a population of above 10 lakhs (2001 Census) shall put in place a fire hazard response and mitigation plan.