Rajasthan gets Rs 68,422 crore outlay

New Delhi, Feb 5 (UNI) The Planning Commission today almost doubled the annual plan outlay for Rajathan from Rs 8,501 crore for 2006-07 to Rs 11,638.87 crore for 2007-08.

The annual plan outlay was decided at a meeting presided over by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje here today.

The outlay includes additional central assistance of Rs 70 crore for ongoing projects in the state.

With this, the state's eleventh plan outlay was pegged at 68,422 crore, as against the total of Rs 31,831 crore for the tenth five year plan, thus giving an unprecedented quantum jump of Rs 3,000 crore to the state.

Expressing happiness over the Plan outlay for the state, Ms Raje said power sector would be given top priority with the allocation of about 36 per cent, Rs 5,000 crore, annually for power generation to make Rajasthan a power surplus state by 2011.

She told newspersons that 13 new power projects were coming up in the state, which included 1,000 mw plants in Bikaner.

Water and irrigation would be the next on priority list which had been provided outlay of over Rs 12,000 crore as compared to an outlay of less than Rs 5,000 crore in the tenth plan period.

Other priority sectors will be education and skill training (Rs 3300 crore as compared to 1700 crore in the tenth plan), health, specially for women and children for which outlay had been doubled, inclusive growth , agriculture and animal husbandry (Rs 770 crore), tourism (298 crore), mining (Rs 640 crore).

Ms Raje said that she had meanwhile submitted a memorandum seeking financial assistance from National Calamity Contingency Fund to the tune of Rs 32,000 crore. Even after six months, the state had got only Rs 100 crore as advance, she said.

Besides it had also been impressed upon that the funding pattern for certain ongoing schemes should not be abandoned mid-way as it created a lot of problems for the states.

Scholarships for SC/ST/OBC students, allotment of wheat under Annapurna Schemes were some of such schemes, she pointed out.

UNI