Sushil Kumar Modi writes to Nirmala Sitharaman seeking Rs 7,434 cr grants for Bihar

Patna: In view of declining state revenue amid the coronavirus outbreak, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting her to release Rs 7,434 crore grants, recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, within this quarter of the current fiscal. He requested her to release Rs 5,018 crore for panchayati raj institutions and Rs 2,416 crore for urban local bodies for the financial year 2020-21, as per recommendation of the Finance Commission. If the amount is released in the first quarter of the fiscal, it will be helpful for the government to implement piped drinking water project and drainage scheme, the state finance minister said in his letter. [caption id=“attachment_7862171” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi. ANI[/caption] The deputy chief minister also urged the Centre to extend funds for payment of salaries of the university teachers and the central share of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. An amount of Rs 2,499 crore under the SSA programme will be spent to pay salaries of contractual teachers in the first quarter. In addition, around Rs 999 crore will be used towards salary payment to university teachers in this April-June quarter, the state finance minister said. He said an amount of Rs 767 crore has already been paid to universities for salary payment, as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. According to the guidelines laid down by the UGC, 50 percent of it has to be borne by the central government, he added.