Centre allots Rs 9,665 crore under SSA for Bihar

Patna: The Centre on Thursday denied reducing the allocation for Bihar under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), stating that Rs 9,665 crore has been allocated for 2016-17 against the state’s demand of Rs 18,277 crore. A sum of Rs 2,515.57 crore was released by the Union government in 2015-16 under the programme, against Rs 2,163.63 crore in 2014-15.
A statement to this effect was made by junior Union HRD minister Upendra Kushwaha in the Rajya Sabha in reply to an unstarred question by Bihar MP Harivansh.
The minister, however, said the Centre has agreed to allocate only half of what was demanded by Bihar under SSA in 2016-17. He said allocation to the states under the SSA is made on the basis of the approved annual work plan and budgets prepared by them as per their requirements and priority. “Proposals brought forth by the states are scrutinized by the project approval board keeping in mind their annual requirement as well as the overall availability of funds under the scheme,” Kushwaha said.
The Union government has released Rs 2,706.88 crore to Bihar for implementation of SSA as first instalment of central share during 2016-17, Kushwaha said, adding, “Release of second instalment will depend upon fulfilment of required criteria such as timely submission of the requisite documents like utilization certificate, progress report, audit report etc and also availability of funds.”