Assam: Rs 1,648 Crore in 15th Finance Commission Funds Remains Unspent

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: It is a matter of concern that tied funds under the 15th Finance Commission (FC) for rural local bodies in Assam, primarily meant for operation and maintenance (O&M) of piped water supply schemes (PWSS) under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and community sanitation assets under the Swacch Bharat Mission (G), remain unspent.

It's unfortunate that an amount of around Rs 1,648 crores under the 15th Finance Commission has remained as an unspent balance as of July 2026. The amount pertains to the period 2020-21 to 2025-26.

Despite the release of tied funds by the central government for the purpose, around 32% of the total PWSS projects in Assam are either non-functional or partially functional.

According to sources, during the period 2020-21 to 2025-26, as many as 27 districts in Assam received Rs 3683.46 crore as tied funds from the centre, according to the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission. Of the total amount received, Rs 2035.18 crore has been utilised, leaving a balance of Rs 1,648.29 crore unspent.

Incidentally, Dhubri district has the highest unspent amount, with Rs 103.66 crore, followed by Rs 102.34 crore in Barpeta district, Rs 93.82 crore in Nagaon district, Rs 93.71 crore in Dibrugarh district, Rs 83.38 crore in Morigaon district, Rs 81.89 crore in Tinsukia district, Rs 80.79 crore in the Sribhumi district and Rs 79.82 crore in Kamrup district, among others.

Assam has a total of 19,859 PWSS projects. Of the 19,859 projects, 13,184 are functional and 4,185 are non-functional, along with 2,216 projects that are partially functional. The highest number of 423 non-functional projects are in Kokrajhar.

A common allegation in most villages is that pipe connections exist but there is no water. Surprisingly, the O&M funds are lying unspent. These funds are meant for maintenance of such PWSS projects that are either non-functional or partially functional.

The tied funds under the 15th Finance Commission for rural local bodies in Assam were strictly earmarked for basic national priority services, specifically drinking water supply, rainwater harvesting, water recycling, sanitation, and the maintenance of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. 60% of the total local body allocation under the 15th Finance Commission is restricted strictly to these tied sectors (while the remaining 40% constitutes untied funds for location-specific general needs).

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