Manmohan asks Plan panel for report on govt achievements

Days ahead of the Lok Sabha election results, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met the Planning Commission members today to review the ongoing Five-Year Plan.

According to sources, Singh has asked the Plan panel to prepare a report on key achievements of the Five-Year Plan during the United Progressive Alliance regime, as well as the areas where more work needs to be done. The report is likely to be released next week.

Results of the ongoing general elections are scheduled to be released on May 16.

This was probably the last meeting of the panel with Singh, who heads it.

The meeting accessed various social sector projects and their performance. “Overall, it was felt that the projects have benefited large sections of people. But it was also observed that there were implementation issues,” government sources added.

The sources said the meeting reviewed the achievements, as well as failures in areas like infrastructure, health, power and the manufacturing sector.

The meeting was attended by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and its members including Kirit Parikh, Anwarul Hoda, B N Yugandhar Abhijit Sen and V L Chopra.