Maharashtra Plan size for 2013-14 fixed at Rs 49,000 cr

8.8% higher than last year; state seeks Centre's help to tackle water crisis

The Planning Commission on Thursday approved the Maharashtra government’s annual Plan of Rs 49,000 crore for 2013-14, which is 8.8 per cent higher than the 2012-13 plan size of Rs 45,000 crore.

The commission also cleared the capital budget of Rs 31,500 crore for public sector enterprises (PSE) against Rs 26,000 crore last year. The aggregate plan approved is of Rs 80,500 crore against Rs 71,000 crore, a rise of 13 per cent.

The increase in Plan size was approved after Rs 1,200 crore was proposed for the rehabilitation of Gosikhurd irrigation project, the government’s corresponding share to the Tribal Sub Plan and Rs 500 crore proposed for decentralised water storage programme.

During the meeting with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said drought-proofing, balanced industrial growth along with infrastructure development would be given priority. The social sector would continue to get priority and investment from the private sector would be encouraged.

Chavan drew the Planning Commission’s attention to the water crisis and said the state needs support from the Centre to tackle the situation. Maharashtra is facing a second successive year of drought due to scanty rainfall. More than 10,000 villages in 15 districts of Maharashtra are affected by drought and are facing acute scarcity of water and fodder.

A senior government official, who was present during the meeting, told Business Standard: “The government was praised for financial management, including the fiscal deficit, a 13 per cent reduction in the number of malnourished children and also for a slew of measures taken by three companies in the field of power generation, distribution and transmission. However, the Planning Commission expressed concerns over the water management and asked the government to take an integrated approach for the same.”

Ahluwalia drew the state government’s attention to the large gender gap in literacy rate of 14.34 percentage points with a literacy rate of males at 89.92 per cent and females  at 75.48 per cent.

Despite the global slowdown, the state has achieved an average GSDP growth rate of 8.6 per cent against the target of 9.1 per cent during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

The per capita NSDP of Maharashtra in 2011-12 was Rs 64,951, which is above the per capita NSDP of Haryana (Rs 62,825) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 54,550). Maharashtra has achieved a growth rate of 8.1 per cent in the industry sector during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan against the target of 8.0 per cent and it was higher than the growth rate achieved for the whole country (7.2 per cent).