The Hindu : New Delhi News : Himachal Plan fixed at Rs. 1,600 cr.

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Friday, Feb 11, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Himachal Plan fixed at Rs. 1,600 cr.

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 10. The Annual Plan of Himachal Pradesh for 2005-06 has been fixed at Rs 1,600 crore.

This was finalised at a meeting between the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and the State Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, here on Wednesday.

During the discussions, while appreciating the Centre's support to the State over and above its normal entitlement for keeping up the tempo of development, Mr Singh said that his Government was seriously concerned about the increasing indebtedness of the State and assured that suitable corrective measures would be put in place as soon as possible.

Among the steps being contemplated, one was that the State Government would not mop up any more funds through non SLR-based borrowings during 2005-06.

The Chief Minister further assured that his Government would introduce legislation on `Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management' (FRBM), a major economic step desired by the Centre.

The State Government, Mr. Singh said, would also go in for setting up a Public Service Tariff Board to regulate the tariff in various services such as transport, health, water supply, irrigation and education.

The announcement in this regard is to be made in the Budget for the new fiscal.

Already, various expenditure compression measures have been affected by the State, he said, and requested the Centre to provide help in obtaining a structural adjustment facility with the World Bank or any other multilateral agency.

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