Finance Ministry Releases Rs 17,287 Cr to States to Fight COVID-19

PTI, 4 April 2020: The Finance Ministry on Friday, 3 April, released  Rs 17,287 crore to states to enhance their financial resources during the coronavirus crisis. Of this amount, Rs 11,092 crore is dedicated towards the State Disaster Response Mitigation Fund (SDRMF).

An amount of Rs 6,195 crore has been released as “Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant” to 14 states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

“The @FinMinIndia today released a total of Rs 17,287.08 crore to different States to enhance their financial resources during the #COVID19 crisis,” the Office of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a tweet.

This includes Rs 6,195.08 crore on account of “revenue deficit grant” under the 15th Finance Commission recommendations to 14 states.

The remaining Rs 11,092 crore is to all states as advanced payment of Central share of the first instalment of SDRMF. This includes Rs 1,611 crore to Maharashtra, Rs 966 crore to Uttar Pradesh, Rs 910 crore to Madhya Pradesh, Rs 708 crore to Bihar, Rs 802 crore to Odisha, Rs 740.50 crore to Rajasthan, and Rs 505.50 crore to West Bengal, it added.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that Rs 11,092 crore is to be utilised for setting up quarantine facilities, sample collection and screening; setting up additional testing laboratories, cost of consumables; purchase of personal protection equipment for healthcare, municipal, police and fire authorities; purchase of thermal scanners, ventilators, air purifiers and consumables for government hospitals.