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Bengal gets 22,214 crore

Photo: V. Sudershan

Greetings:West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra calling on Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: The Annual Plan for West Bengal for 2011-12 was on Wednesday finalised at Rs.22,214 crore at a meeting here between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

At this level, the State Plan outlay for the current fiscal works out to be over 23 per cent higher than the allocation of Rs.17,985 crore for 2010-11.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Mr. Ahluwalia said: “The Planning Commission heard the vision she has for reviving the State economy and giving it a thrust over the next five years. Ms. Banerjee has identified many of the critical areas about which we are also concerned. We have approved a Plan size of Rs.22,214 crore.”

Mr. Ahluwalia pointed out that during the discussions the State Government outlined its priority areas of development such as infrastructure and livelihood, apart from focus on education, health and skill development. The Chief Minister also underlined the need for developing the tourism potential of the Darjeeling hill areas and the Sundarbans.

In her interaction with media persons, the Chief Minister said her government had fixed a target of creating 10 lakh jobs in the next two years.

“We have already decided that within two years we will create at least more than 10 lakh jobs,” she said.

Ms. Banerjee also discussed the 17 new industrial clusters that her government plans to develop to help in creating more jobs. Out of these, six clusters would be in minority-dominated regions and plans are being drawn up to have 5,000 industrial units.

The Chief Minister said a major focus area of her government would be to develop tourism infrastructure to transform Kolkata into London and Darjeeling into Switzerland. “We also want to develop Kolkata. Why cannot Kolkata be another London? We want to undertake tourism-based industries in the Sundarbans area. Like in African safari, we can also build up our area in Sundarbans. Darjeeling can be our Switzerland,” she said.

Among other things, the State Government has plans to provide electricity connection to all villages within the next three years.

“We also need to take care of skill development, education and health which are in a dangerous condition,” she said.

During the discussions, Mr. Ahluwalia pointed to the need to speed up growth in the State and making the process more inclusive. The focus areas of these development initiatives should be health, education and employment generation, he said.

According to an official statement, he said that new initiatives are required to create an investor-friendly environment and improve the State's social and physical infrastructure through public-private partnerships in development of roads and health sector. The State Government's emphasis in the rebuilding process should be on improving revenue generation.

Briefing the Commission, Ms. Banerjee said her government would focus on faster and more inclusive growth on a sustainable basis to provide better opportunities for employment and income generation. Emphasis would also be laid on development of micro, small and medium enterprises and improved delivery of services.

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