Delhi's Annual Plan fixed at Rs 5,200 crore

New Delhi, Mar 4 (UNI) The Annual Plan for Delhi for 2006-07 was today finalised at Rs 5,200 crore.

This includes additional Central assistance of Rs 352.52 crore for projects of special interest to the state.

Emerging from the nearly two-hour-long meeting at Yojana Bhawan, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said Delhi was expecting additional Central assistance to prepare for the 2010 Commonwealth Games also.

''We are working on it'', she said when asked if another meeting was on the cards in this regard. Issues related to the Commonwealth Games were discussed at length at today's meeting, she added.

Appreciating the plan, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia expressed hope Ms Dikshit would succeed in getting it implemented so as to fulfil her dream of transforming Delhi into a global city.

While stressing that the Government should strive for greater participation of the private sector in the development process, he said he would apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the problems being faced in ''modernising'' Delhi in a time-bound manner.

Dr Ahluwalia said Delhi's plan realisation had been better than the national average. The share of plan expenditure in total budget expenditure at 52 per cent was much better than other states, he said.

Per capital income growth was satisfactory and social indicators are better in the capital than the national average.

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