New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) The Centre on Tuesday said it has released 15th Finance Commission grants for FY25 for rural local bodies in Kerala worth Rs 266.8 crore, along with Rs 27 crore for rural local bodies in Meghalaya (for FY22), for addressing location-specific needs.

The untied grants were released in Kerala for the second installment. These funds are for all the eligible 14 district panchayats, 152 block panchayats and 941 gram panchayats in the state, according to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

For the rural local bodies in Meghalaya, first installment of untied grants of FY22 amounting to Rs 27 crore have been released. These funds are for all the three eligible autonomous district councils — Khasi, Garo and Jaintia, the ministry added.

The government, through Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Jal Shakti (Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation), recommends release of 15th Finance Commission (XV FC) grants to the States for rural local bodies, which are then released by Ministry of Finance.

The allocated grants are recommended and released in two installments in a financial year.

The Centre is actively strengthening rural local self-governance by empowering Panchayati Raj institutions/rural local bodies through the XV FC grants.

Last week, the Union government released the 15th Finance Commission Grants during the financial year 2024–25, for the rural local bodies of Haryana, Tripura and Mizoram.

Panchayati Raj institutions of Haryana were given untied grants amounting to Rs 194.867 crore as part of the first instalment.

For the rural local bodies in Tripura, the first instalment of untied grants amounting to Rs 31.40 crore and first instalment of tied grants amounting to Rs 47.10 crore were released.

The government also released funds for Panchayati Raj institutions of Mizoram, as part of the second instalment of untied grants of the financial year 2022–23, amounting to Rs 14.20 crore and second instalment of tied grants of the financial year 2022–23 amounting to Rs 21.30 crore.