The Hindu : Kerala News : UDF: extend plan period beyond March 31

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 07, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

UDF: extend plan period beyond March 31

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: United Democratic Front convener P.P. Thankachan has asked the State government to extend the Plan period beyond the current financial year ending March 31, 2008.

In a statement here on Tuesday, Mr. Thankachan said that the Government should issue special orders permitting the local bodies to utilise unspent Plan funds for the current year as spill over projects during the next financial year.

He said local bodies would not be able to fully utilise their Plan allocation owing to the inordinate delay in Plan preparation and approvals. The local bodies were not responsible for the delay which was caused by the failure of the State Planning Board and the District Planning Committees to approve the Plan on time.

He said the Planning Board had not met even once during the last seven months.

The Finance Department was deliberately delaying a decision on the Plan funds because it wanted to compress expenditure, he said.

The UDF agitation, he said, against the delay in implementing Plan schemes of local bodies would continue.

The High Power Committee would soon meet and discuss a more stringent agitation method to focus on the development crisis the State was facing, he said.

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