Himachal Pradesh has proposed a State annual plan of Rs 5,700 crore for the next financial year which is an increase of Rs 500 crore over the present fiscal.

Presiding over a meeting of legislators here for finalising priorities for the 2016-17 budget, Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said detailed project reports amounting to Rs 470 crore had been sanctioned through National Bank for Agriculture And Rural Developement (NABARD) for meeting out the priorities of the legislators.

He said project reports of Rs 1,100 crore were ready and forwarded to NABARD for sanction.

The CM said it was necessary to conduct the social audit of all the new schemes and also for those being implemented as it was important to know the reasons of delay in implementation, if any.

“It’s easy to correct oneself at the very beginning rather than wasting time in mending the mistakes afterwards,” he said.

He stressed the need to conduct social audit of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation Yojna being implemented in Shimla and Kullu towns, all skill development schemes and the Mukhya Mantri Start-Up Yojna in a time-bound manner.

Tourism, horticulture and hydro-power generation are major contributors to the State’s economic development.

He said that the government had eased the process of setting up of new industries in the State so that more employment opportunities could be created and to accomplish this ‘Mukhya Mantri Start-up Yojna’ was being implemented. He said that a Skill Development Centre had also been set up at Baddi. 

The Chief Minster directed for the pushing up the Forest clearance cases. He said that the Forest officials were part of the Government and it also becomes their responsibility to pursue the forest clearances for paving the way for development. He said that they should have a proactive approach.