The Hindu : Kerala News : Kerala annual Plan size fixed at Rs.6,950 crore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Kerala annual Plan size fixed at Rs.6,950 crore

Special Correspondent

Includes additional Central assistance of Rs.60 crore

NEW DELHI: The annual Plan size of Kerala for 2007-08 was fixed at Rs.6,950 crore on Tuesday after a meeting between Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

This includes an additional Central assistance of Rs.60 crore for projects of special importance to the State. The outlay for the next fiscal has registered an increase of Rs.740 crore.

Briefing mediapersons immediately after the meeting, Mr. Achuthanandan said priority areas would be agriculture, information technology, biotechnology, traditional industries, tourism and modernisation of infrastructure.

Though the State Government submitted a proposal for Rs.250 crore as one-time additional Central assistance for the coming fiscal, only Rs.60 crore was sanctioned.

Addressing the meeting, Mr. Ahluwalia complemented Kerala for achieving growth rates higher than the national average and a relatively higher per capita income.

However, he took note of the agricultural distress and unemployment in the State. In his address, the Chief Minister spoke out against the conditions imposed by the Central Government on centrally-sponsored schemes.

Describing the conditions "irrational," Mr. Achuthanandan said the `take-it- or-leave-it' attitude of the Centre to the State Government's concerns about the conditions "can hardly be conducive to the functioning of a federal polity."

The Chief Minister expressed concern about moves to reduce the Centre's share in centrally-sponsored schemes.

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