Modi government releases Rs 2,200 cr to 15 states towards measures for air quality improvement

In a major development, the government has released Rs 2,200 crore as the first instalment to 15 states for undertaking measures towards improvement of air quality. "The government, based on the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, has released Rs 2,200 crore as the first installment to 15 states for the improvement of air quality measures in their million-plus cities," the office of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted.

This will help the beneficiary states to undertake air quality measures, including capacity-building of the local bodies within their million-plus cities/agglomerations, it added.

The 15 states include Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Earlier, the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, under its “Special Window to States for meeting the GST Compensation Cess shortfall,” had confirmed that it will be releasing an amount of Rs 6000 crore as second tranche to 16 States and 3 Union Territories on Monday. This amount was raised at a weighted average yield of 4.42 per cent. This amount will be passed on to the States/UTs at the same interest rate, which is lower than the cost of borrowings for the States and UTs, thus benefitting them.

Ministry of Finance has facilitated loans of Rs 12,000 crore till date under the Special Window to States/UTs.

21 States and 3 Union Territories till date, have opted for the Special Window under Option I. The loans raised by GoI are released on a back-to-back basis to States/UTs, in lieu of GST Compensation Cess releases.  The loans have been released to the following States and Union Territories - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, UT of Delhi, UT of Jammu and Kashmir and UT of Puducherry.