First tranche of JJM funds to be released shortly
Shillong, Oct 6: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has asserted that the state’s current fiscal health is stable while seeking to delink it from the temporary hold-up in Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) funds.
“The current financial condition situation is absolutely stable. There is absolutely no concern with the financial stability of the state,” Sangma said.
All funds – state’s own taxes, share of central taxes, Centrally Sponsored Schemes, central grants and externally aided projects – are being used judiciously to push development while maintaining fiscal stability, he said.
On JJM dues, Sangma said the issue was procedural at the Centre.
“JJM is a mission mode project funded 90:10 by Government of India. Since it was a mission mode project, after five years of completion, funding came to a halt. It required the central cabinet approval to reactivate the mission,” he said.
He added, “That gap between the mission period ending and the Cabinet reinstating it led to delay in release of funds. The Finance Ministry was not able to release funds because the Mission’s time frame had ended and Cabinet had not taken a decision for extension. This was a project-specific and mission-specific issue.”
Sangma said the bottleneck is now cleared.
“I am happy to inform you that the Cabinet of Government of India has now approved it and now the mission continues,” he said.
He said new conditions have been set by the Finance Ministry for the Jal Shakti Ministry to be complied with by states.
“Meghalaya has now complied with almost all the conditions and the first tranche of funds is being released to us very shortly, which will then help us release the funds,” he said.
“This has nothing to do with the overall larger financial stability of the state. The dynamics are limited to JJM,” he added.
