By IANS,
Agartala : The central government will provide Rs.8,000 crore to 13 states, including three northeastern states of Assam, Tripura and Mizoram, as performance-based grants for urban development schemes and other projects, officials said here Thursday.
The central government would allocate such fund to the 13 states as per the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission.
“The union government would provide this fund as performance-based grant on implementation of the urban development schemes and related projects,” a senior Tripura government official told reporters.
The 13 states to get the performance-based grants for the first time are Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram.
The official said that the central government had earlier stipulated nine separate guidelines to implement the urban development projects and related schemes.
“Evaluating the success of the urban development schemes and projects and following of central guidelines, the states were selected,” the official added.
The central guidelines include appropriate use of central funds, timely submission of utilisation reports, empowerment of people through the urban development projects and related schemes, constitution of autonomous boards, urban waste management and introduction of metering system in water supply to the urban households.
The commission, headed by renowned economist Vijay L. Kelkar, was constituted for a period of five years in 2010 to 2015. Its report was accepted by the central government in 2010 after discussion in parliament.