Patna, (Bihar Times): Chief minister Nitish Kumar was all praise for the Planning Commission, especially its deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, for approving the increased plan size of Bihar. The state’s plan size has been approved by the Commission to the tune of Rs 13,000 crores for the year 2008-09, which is higher by Rs 2,800 crores in comparison to 2007-08. It is an increase of 24.45 per cent in the state plan outlay.

Talking to the newsmen in Delhi after his meeting with the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission the chief minister said the state government had asked for a plan size of Rs 13,800 crores but the Planning Commission approved only Rs 13,000 crores. However, the Planning Commission agreed to review the situation in the middle of the year and if found suitable, it would grant another Rs 500 crores.

Deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, deputy chairman, Bihar State Planning Board, N K Singh , Chief Secretary, R J M Pillai, Development Commissioner, S Vijayraghawan, Principal Secretary Finance, Navin Kumar, Principal Secretary Agriculture, N S Madhavan, Principal Secretary, Energy, Rajesh Gupta, Principal Secretary, Water Resources, Ashok Kumar Sinha, Principal Secretary, Road Construction, R K Singh, Principal Secretary, HRD, A K Singh, Secretary, Planning and Development, Rameshwar Singh, Resident Commissioner, C K Mishra and Secretary, CM Secretariate, Chanchal Kumar were also present in the meeting.
Nitish further said that the state government has financed the increase in Annual Plan entirely from its own resources and added that the contribution from the resources of the state increased from 8.20 per cent in 2005-06 to 43.42 per cent in 2008-09. However, in the year 2007-08, the contribution through the state’s resources was just 28.90 per cent.

The chief minister said that the contribution of central assistance had decreased to 30.18 per cent from 34.20 per cent in 2007-08. Furthermore, he said that the contribution of the borrowings decreased from 58.30 per cent in 2005-06 to only 25.29 per cent in 2008-09. However, it was 36.20 per cent in the year 2007-08. The approved plan size is highest in the history of Bihar and is four times that of the annual plan of 2004-05. It not only reflects the efforts being made by the state government but also shows that unlike in the past the Planning Commission is generous towards Bihar. Is it that the N K Singh’s old relationship with Montek Singh Ahluwalia worked wonder?