The Union government has decided to provide further 'special assistance' of Rs 1,129.40 crore to Bihar during 2016-17 for completion of the approved ongoing projects under special plan for Bihar, an official statement said.
Including the present release of Rs 1,129.40 crore, the central government has so far released Rs 6,934.61 crore to Bihar, it added.
Similarly, according to the statement, the government has used the special assistance to support the newly-formed states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
"Further, in keeping with its commitments to support the development of backward areas of Telangana, the central government had provided a further 'special assistance' of Rs 450 crore to the state," it added.
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The statement said Tamil Nadu has also been a beneficiary of this special assistance.
"An amount of Rs 200 crore was released to the state to resolve the issues affecting processing industry in Tirupur (Tamil Nadu), for adoption of Zero Liquid Discharge by 18 Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs),"it said.
The union government has been assisting the state governments and providing 'Special Assistance' with a view to expediting completion of area-specific schemes.
This assistance is provided in view of the government of India's commitment to fulfilling the development agenda in backward region notwithstanding the fact that the state plan schemes including BRGF (State Component) are subsumed in larger devolution of union taxes and duties to the states in terms of recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission (FFC) and are delinked from the union support with effect from 2015-16.