The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : CM orders raising of plan outlay to Rs. 20,000 cr.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 17, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

CM orders raising of plan outlay to Rs. 20,000 cr.

By W. Chandrakanth

HYDERABAD, MAY 16. The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has asked finance and planning officials to take steps to raise the annual plan expenditure from around Rs. 11,000 crores at present to around Rs. 20,000 crores to facilitate early completion of all pending irrigation projects.

He was reviewing the State's finances with the Chief Secretary, Mohan Kanda, and other senior officers besides the Congress MLA-elect, K. Rosaiah, this morning before leaving for New Delhi. He asked the officials to come up with the strategy in a week to help the new Government fulfil the promises made by the Congress in its election manifesto, which included completion of all pending projects in a three to five-year timeframe. This would mean a substantial increase in the annual plan outlay.

The officials must gear up to mobilise resources to the tune of nearly Rs. 40,000 crores in the next five years, Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy said, directing them to mobilise the money using "creative funding options."

He said this could be done by tapping the doors of the internal funding agencies such as the banking and insurance sectors rather than the doors of external funding agencies, like the World Bank.

He was also hopeful of securing sufficient Central funds in the changed political scenario, which led to the Congress storming back to power in the State and at the Centre.

Dr. Reddy was informed by the officials that the cumulative revenue deficit of the last nine years in the State was a staggering Rs. 20,000 crores.

They explained that the total plan expenditure this year was nearly Rs. 11,000 crores while the revenue deficit had gone up to Rs. 3,100 crores from last year's figure of Rs. 2,000 crores as per the revised estimates.

The Government needed about Rs. 2,000 crores to supply power free of cost to farmers in the next five years while an additional burden of nearly Rs. 1,100 crores on the exchequer was to be borne now because of waiver of power dues.

During the election campaign, Dr. Reddy had reiterated that the priority of the Congress Government would be the completion of all pending projects in the State in three years.

The Central Government had accorded clearance to most of these projects. The Congress contention has been that these projects would require about Rs. 37,000 crores to complete.

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