Bihar Wants Rs 22000cr 9th Plan Outlay

Bihar has fixed an ambitious plan outlay of about Rs 22000 crore for the ninth five year plan period.

Chief Minister Rabari Devi and state finance minister Shanker Prasad Tekriwal will leave for Delhi on September 7 for a discussion with planning commission vice chairman Madhu Dandvate, in connection with the finalisation of the ninth plan outlay. The state government is hopeful that it will be able to mobilise internal resources to meet the target.

Sources in the finance department said that an official proposal for keeping the plan size for the ninth five year plan period at Rs 20000 crore was sent to the planning commission in February this year. However, the state government was forced to postpone discussions at the Chief Ministers level following the political upheaval and the uncertainty prevailing in the state over the continuance of Laloo Prasad Yadavs government, following his alleged involvement in the Rs 950 crore animal husbandry department scam.

The meeting between the Chief Minister and the planning commission, fixed for July 18, was postponed due to the transfer of power in Bihar.

The sources expressed their apprehensions about whether the state, which has outstanding debts of Rs 13000 crore from last year, would be able to sustain the proposal if the planning commission agreed to it. Bihars performance in the field of agriculture is not extraordinary and investments are not forthcoming, how would it generate more than Rs 1000 crore every year from internal resources to meet the plan requirements, they said.

According to them, the states poor performance in achieving the targets set in the eighth five year plan is likely to go against it. The planning commission might not agree to raise the outlay of the ninth plan significantly. Against the approved outlay of Rs 13000 crore for the eighth plan (1992-97), the actual expenditure did not cross Rs 7000 crore. The first three years saw more than fifty per cent cuts in the plan expenditure due to non-mobilisation of internal resources. In the last two years the allotted funds could not be utilised as the entire administration got occupied in the fodder scam investigations. As a result, against the annual growth rate target of five per cent, the states growth rate veered around two to three per cent during the eighth plan period. A seven per cent growth rate has to be maintained if the state is to progress. However, the state officials claim that they are much better placed when it comes to mobilising the additional resources.