New Delhi, April 3: The Union Finance Ministry approved a monetary release of Rs 17,287.08 crore for a total of 14 states to bolster their fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The amount includes the allocation of Rs 6,195.08 crore - which was to be transferred to the beneficiary provinces on ground of ‘revenue deficit grant’ - as recommended in the report of 15th Finance Commission. Catch live news updates related to coronavirus pandemic in India and other parts of the world.

The 14 states which would be assigned the amount include: Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Punjab. The amount would be disbursed at the earliest as it is aimed at strengthening the states' financial resources amid their battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from the Rs 17,287 crore grant to the 14 beneficiary states, an additional amount of Rs 11,092 crore would be released for all the provinces. The latter would form the first installment of the Centre's share under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRM).

Update by ANI

The release of grants came a day after the Chief Ministers, in their video-conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sought additional grants to effectively contain the transmission of coronavirus in their respective states.

The CMs of Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu  and Andhra Pradesh appealed the Centre to relax their borrowing capacities to 5 percent of the GDP, as they would need additional amount of loans to meet the expenditure in wake of the health crisis. The head of states also appealed PM Modi to ensure early release of their share of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 03, 2020 08:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).