Wednesday 30 May 2012

Maharashtra Plan for 2012-13 Finalized

The Annual Plan for the year 2012-13 for the state of Maharashtra was finalised here today at a meeting between Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Prithviraj Chauhan. The plan size has been agreed at Rs. 45,000 crore. 

In his comments on the plan performance of the State, Mr Ahluwalia said the State has been taking effective measures to accelerate growth and make it more inclusive .He said performance of the State continues to be appreciable. The Planning Commission appreciated State’s inclusive approach and pointed out that percentage population living below poverty line in the State has come down appreciably from 38.2% in 2004-05 to 24.5 in 2009-10. According to Tendulkar methodology 13.7% population has moved above poverty line where as the improvement on All-India is 7.4% only. 

The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of the State increased from Rs. 413826 crore in 2004-05 to Rs. 775020 crore in the year 2010-11. The per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) of the State was Rs. 35915 in the year 2004-05 which increased to Rs 62729 in 2010-11 against the All India Average of Rs. 35993. Maharashtra continues to register higher percentage growth of GSDP and Per Capita NSDP. Maharashtra registered a growth rate of 12.5% in Agriculture & Allied Sector for the year 2010-11. The growth rate of Industry and Service sector in the State during 2010-11 was 9.1% and 10.9% respectively. 

Mr Ahluwalia said that the commission was nearing finalization of the plan document and wants States to come forward with the suggestion which can help in improving implementation of the plan programmes so as to ensure that benefits of high growth are evenly distributed. He said the States need to encourage private participation in the development of both social and physical infrastructure as State funding for this would not be fully available. He said focus sectors including education and health would need increased participation from private sector. 

Planning Commission appreciated State’s performance in managing malnutrition. It was pointed out that in five years it has brought down malnutrition from 56.1 per cent to 15.5 per cent. Attention was drawn to problems in education sector especially number of children out of school and literacy gap in some areas. Performance in skill development and JNNURM were also appreciated. 

Briefing the Commission on the development strategy, Mr Patel added that Maharashtra has attracted large investments with 324 mega projects having investments of Rs. 2.70 lakh crore with employment of over 3 lakh persons in the period of last five years. Projects worth Rs. 1.12 lakh crore have been finalized in this fiscal year. About 75% of the total numbers of mega projects are in the less developed regions which will help reduce the regional imbalance in development. 

On infrastructure sector, he said railway is a subject reserved in the Union list, so expecting the states to make large contribution is unrealistic, especially in view of the limitations of state finances. The state government seeks intervention to limit state contribution to 25% of construction cost of railway line. He added that the State has decided to improve & strengthen infrastructure for air transport of passenger and cargo for boosting the growth of backward areas. The total requirement for Civil aviation projects in the State in the Twelfth Plan is to the tune of Rs. 15,395 crore. We request the centre to provide at least 50% share as special grants. 

He urged Planning Commission and Government of India to create a separate line of funding for addressing the challenges of mega cities and requested introduction of the concept of “National Projects for Mega Cities”, which would be entitled to receive 90% of funding from the Centre. 

He said the strong economic performance had a positive impact on the State’s finances. The State’s own revenue showed a remarkable increase of 15 per cent in 2011-12 over 2010-11. This enabled the State to end the year with a lower revenue deficit of Rs 2059 crore compared to the budget estimate of Rs 58( surplus) crore. 

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