Bhubaneswar: The Union Finance Ministry on Friday released the first installment of Rs 18658 lakh to Odisha as basic grant for urban local bodies for 2019-20 in tune with recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.
Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted to express gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for releasing the balance amount. “The grant will be helpful in executing development works and basic service delivery being executed by local urban self-governing bodies in Odisha,” he wrote.
On March 12, BJD MPs – Prasanna Acharya, Amar Patnaik, Sarojini Hembram and Sasmit Patra – met the Union Finance Minister with a request to release the pending Rs 700 crore basic and performance grants going by the 14th Finance Commission recommendations for Odisha with respect to 114 ULBs. It had been pending for the last four years.
In December last year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also written to PM Modi, requesting him to release basic grants for ULBs in Odisha.
