The Government of Tamil Nadu has increased the annual plan allocation for the year 2013-14 by 32%, in order to support the developmental activities in the State, said Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah. The State is targeting a 11% growth during the twelth five Year Plan, as against the nation's average of 8%.
Delivering his address to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on the first day of the current session, which started today, Rosaiah said, “The annual plan allocation for the year 2013-14 will be increased to Rs 37,000 crore from Rs 28,000 crore fixed during the current year, which is an impressive increase of 32%.”
The State government has also enhanced the original estimate for the twelth Five Year Plan allocation from Rs 1.85 lakh crore, as announced last year, to Rs 2.11 lakh crore. This is 148% higher than the eleventh Five Year Plan, he added.
The growth of the State during the eleventh Five Year Plan period was 8.05% as against the target of 9% set by the government, owing to the slowdown in agriculture and industry during the tenure of the previous state government.
The government, by proper financial management, would ensure that adequate financial resources are made available throughout the 12th Plan period for all developmental schemes, he said.
The government would soon release the second volume of Vision 2023, detailing the entire list of projects to advance the entire state as per the plans under the Vision to become Numero Uno state in the country.
The state would also soon create a State Residents' Data Hub, for integrating Aadhar numbers with the biometric enabled individual data derived from the national population registry which would bring in availability of unified data repository to service all departments.
This expected to help government in better targeting effective service delivery, better accountability and enable effective monitoring of the schemes. It is also proposed to use the data hub for the Aadhar based payment system to disperse welfare benefits, among other purposes, said the Governor.
He added that the government is working on improving the power situation in Tamil Nadu and has entered into agreement for three years, to buy 500 MW from Orissa. The daily consumption of electricity in the State has increased to 210 million units in January from 180 million units 180 units in October 2012.
Detailing on the establishment of new power projects, he said that the third phase of Mettur project for 600 MW has started testing, first phase of Vallur 500 MW project was started in November 2012, and the second and third phase with 500 MW each will go on stream in March and October, 2013, respectively.
In the agriculture sector, he said that the State government would give priority to the sector and target is 5% growth in 12th Five Year Plan. The government is also planning to approach the Supreme Court seeking Karnataka government compensation for the farmers in the Delta region.
The government is expecting to introduce the new land policy soon, which would help the manufacturing sector. The target for the sector under Vision 2023 is a growth of 13.8%. The government has signed 17 MoUs in 2012-13 worth over Rs 26,600 crore which would generate jobs to 1.4 lakh people both directly and indirectly.
The Governor also expressed the State government's opposition on Central government's policy inititatives including the Direct Cash Transfer System and FDI in Retail. Such policies would affect the freedom of the individual States in its financial matters, he added.
