Friday, May 17, 2013

Plan Commission approves Rs 49,000 cr outlay for Maharashtra


New Delhi: The Planning Commission on Thursday approved an annual plan outlay of Rs 49,000 crore for Maharashtra for 2013-14, which is 8.8 per cent higher than the 2012-13 plan size of Rs 45,000 crore.

The plan size was discussed here in a meeting between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

"We have agreed on a plan of Rs 48,500 crore for the current year plus Rs 500 crore for cement nala bund which will help in water conservation, so the total plan size becomes Rs 49,000 crore," Ahluwalia told reporters after the meeting.



In addition, the Commission also approved Rs 31,500 crore for public sector enterprises, taking the aggregate plan for the state at Rs 80,500 crore.

Ahluwalia said Maharashtra is making a major contribution in the growth process as the economic performance of the state in 2012-13 remained at 7.1 per cent, much higher than the national growth of 5 per cent.

He also mentioned about state's achievement in human resource area and said it was doing commendable job in bringing down the rate of child malnutrition significantly.

"...Data for child malnutrition (in India) really relates to 2005-06. Maharashtra is the only state that has itself done a survey for 2012 which updates the data for 2005-06. It shows the reduction in stunting. Stunting is one of the critical parameters for long term malnutrition, it shows a reduction in stunting from something 39 per cent to 23 per cent in a short period of five or six years," he said.

Chavan said the state government highlighted five priorities to the Planning Commission that included drought proofing of the state, sustainable rain-fed agriculture, balanced and industrial development, bringing up the education level and urbanisation challenges.

"We also explained the position of drought that Maharashtra has faced in last two years, therefore drought proofing the state remains major challenge...We requested for special funding for decentralised water storage and also for completing the ongoing irrigation projects," Chavan said.

PTI

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