Centre approves Rs 6,424 crore as special assistance to Assam

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Government of India has approved an amount of Rs 6424.94 crore under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2024-25 as special assistance to Assam.

This was revealed in an answer by Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in reply to a question posed by MP Haribhai Patel on capital investment to states in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

According to Union Minister Chaudhary, of the Rs 6424.94 crore approved for Assam, an amount of Rs 6200.18 crore has been released as of January 31, 2025. Of the released amount of Rs 6200.18 crore, the Assam government has reported the utilization of Rs 870.70 crore until the above date.

Moreover, regarding the release of funds for other NE states under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment, the minister reported that an amount of Rs 606.02 crore has been released for Arunachal Pradesh, Rs 568.29 for Manipur, Rs 1669.39 for Meghalaya, Rs 630 for Mizoram, Rs 462.48 for Nagaland, Rs 1130.27 for Sikkim, and Rs 812.81 for Tripura.

The Union Minister further stated in his reply, "The Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs. 1.5 lakh crore was announced in the Union Budget of 2024-25. Out of the total allocation, an amount of Rs. 55,000 crore under Part I of the scheme is untied. This amount has been allocated to the states in proportion to their share of central taxes and duties as per the award of the 15th Finance Commission. The remaining amount of Rs. 95,000 crore is, inter alia, earmarked for reforms in certain citizen-centric areas and taking up sector-specific projects like Development of Iconic Tourist Centres to Global Scale; Incentive for Scrapping of Old Vehicles; Stimulating Industrial Growth; Development of National Capital Region: Incentives for Land-Related Reforms by state governments; Construction of Working Women Hostels, Urban Planning Reforms and Incentives for Achieving Target Fixed for Capital Expenditure."

The special assistance under the Scheme is released by the Department of Expenditure under the central Ministry of Finance on fulfilling the conditions prescribed for release of funds. In case of certain reform-based parts, release is based on recommendations of the nodal ministry concerned. Besides the conditions prescribed under various parts of the Scheme, a state is required to meet the following mandatory conditions: (i) Full compliance with the official name of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs); (ii) Deposit of central share of interest earned in Single Nodal Agency (SNA) accounts till March 31, 2024 in the Consolidated Fund of India.

Also Read: Assam government to get Rs 4,000 crore more share of central taxes in 2025-26

Also Watch: