Planning board gives approval to Rs 7,100-crore annual plan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 16

The state planning board under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today approved annual plan size of Rs 7,100 crore for the year 2019-20 that marked an increase of 12.70 per cent over last year’s plan.

The planning board has given priority to social services sector, transport and communication, agriculture and allied activities, energy and irrigation and flood control this year.

The Chief Minister said that an outlay of Rs 3,048.15 crore has been proposed for social service sector, which is 42.93 per cent of the total outlay. The funds allocated for education and health sectors would help in improving the human development indicators.

He said that transport and communication sectors would get Rs 1,241.98 crore, which is 14.49 per cent of the total outlay. It will help link feasible villages with roads and maintain infrastructure.

Jai Ram Thakur said the agriculture and allied activities sectors would get Rs 877.25 crore. This sector provides direct employment to about 62 per cent of the total working population in the state.

He said Rs 711.06 crore has been proposed for energy sector, Rs 457.48 crore for irrigation and flood control and Rs 335.15 crore for general economic services while Rs. 133.89 crore has been proposed for other general services sector.

The Chief Minister said Rs 133.65 crore has been proposed for rural development, Rs. 95.59 crore for industries and minerals, Rs 38.02 crore for science technology and environment and Rs 27.78 crore for special area programme. The Chief Minister said out of the total outlay, Rs 1,788.49 crore would go to the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and Rs 639 crore to the Tribal Area Sub-plan for development of tribal areas. Rs 80 crore has been allocated for Backward Area Sub Plan for development of the backward areas of the state.

Jai Ram Thakur said external aided projects worth Rs 1,217.82 crore have been proposed to be implemented in the sector of agriculture, horticulture, forests, minor irrigation, power, roads, tourism, technical education, rural water supply and urban development with the assistance of World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the KFW and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Chief Minister said per capita income at the current prices has witnessed an increase of 8.3 per cent and has registered an increase from Rs 1, 46,294 in 2016-17 to Rs 1, 58,462 in 2017-18.

He said that Rs 735 crore have been proposed under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) loan funding from NABARD. Under this, Rs 427 crore would go for construction of roads and bridges, Rs 143 crore for rural water supply schemes, Rs 125 crore for minor irrigation schemes and Rs 40 crore for soil conservation and flood control.

Vice Chairman, State Planning Board Ramesh Dhawala said that this planning meeting was vital for achieving the desired development goals for the year 2019-20.

Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Anil Kumar Khachi said all the initiatives made by the government for the year 2018-19 were being effectively implemented in the state.