The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat Plan at Rs 12,503 cr

ANNUAL TALK: The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Narendra Modi, calling on the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, in the Capital on Monday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi , April 3

The annual Plan size of Gujarat for the next fiscal year has been decided at Rs 12,503.50 crore, inclusive of additional Central assistance of Rs 80 crore for projects of special importance to the State.

At a meeting to decide the Plan size with the State Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, here, the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, lauded the growth performance of the State and its efforts to reduce non-Plan expenditure while improving on development expenditure. During the recent past agriculture growth in the country has not been encouraging but Gujarat's stands out as it logged 15.5 per cent growth during the last four years on the farm front.

Partnership plan

While complimenting the State's efforts aimed at creating investor-friendly milieu, he said public-private partnerships needs to be encouraged in all sectors and in particular in the infrastructure area. Attention was drawn to the social indicators of the State not being comparable to the high economic growth trend. Integration of development of forests and backward pockets with the overall development strategy of the State was recommended. It was also suggested that efforts to bring down transmission and distribution loss by the State should continue.

Fiscal discipline

In his observations, Mr. Modi said that State was on the way to record 100 per cent realisation of Plan expenditure for the Tenth Plan. Because of the fiscal discipline and progressive policies of the State government, the per capita income has gone up from Rs 13,321 in 2001-02 to Rs 16,878 in 2004-05, which was much higher than the national average of Rs 12,416. During the last four years the revenue receipts of the State have gone up by 60 per cent.

He said the Centre should take all the States into confidence before constituting Sixth Pay Commission and the limited resources of the State should be analysed since implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission has led to 50 to 60 per cent increase in non-Plan expenditure. The Chief Minister said as part of urban sector reform, model municipal laws, modern accounting system, levy of user charges in various services and public-private partnerships have been initiated.

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