Rs 7,600-Crore Gujarat Annual Plan Okayed

The Rs 7,600-crore Gujarat annual Plan for 2002-03 was finalised today at a meeting between Planning Commission deputy chairman K C Pant and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. The outlay for the Tenth Plan was projected at Rs 47,000 crore at current prices.

Despite the Godhara incident, the state attracted Rs 8,000 crore foreign investment since February, said Modi. The central government, he said had promised an additional Rs 60 crore assistance to the state.

The state expected to receive Rs 1,500 crore from disinvestment of profit-making state public sector units and Rs 1,000 crore through savings in interest by retiring high cost loans on account of small savings and an additional Rs 1,000 crore in non-tax revenue mainly due to revision of royalty on crude oil and user charges, he said.

Pant expressed confidence that the state could achieve the targeted annual growth rate of 10.17 per cent in the Tenth Plan but cautioned the state against excessive dependence on borrowings. Growth rate had come down in the Ninth Plan and resource mobilisation was estimated at nearly 84 per cent, he added.

Recommending a review of the existing provision of providing subsidy, he said subsidies should be scaled down gradually and weeded out eventually.