Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday said that the State Government has decided to do away with the old system of plan and non plan categorization for the budget and would start a new system of annual development budget instead of annual plan from the year 2021-22.
The State Government has made a provision of Rs 9405.41 crore for the State Development Budget for the year 2021-22, said the Chief Minister while presiding over the State Planning Board Meeting held here to approve Draft Annual Development Budget for the year 2021-22.
The Chief Minister said that under the new mechanism all the four sub plans viz. General Plan, Scheduled Caste Sub Plan, Tribal Sub Plan and Backward Area Sub Plan would now be renamed as General Development Programme, Scheduled Caste Development Programme, Scheduled Tribe Development Programme and Backward Area Development Programme respectively.
He said that out of Rs 9405.41 cr outlay, Rs 6096.70 crore i.e. 64.82 percent has been allocated for General Development Programme, Rs 2369.22 crore i.e. 25.19 percent for Scheduled Caste Development Programme, Rs 846.49 crore i.e.. 9 percent for Scheduled Tribe Development Programme and Rs 93 crore i.e. 0.99 percent of total allocation for Backward Area Development Programme.
He said that although the names have been changed but there have been no decrease in the allocation for funds for development of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Areas.
The Chief Minister said that the world economy was adversely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and India and Himachal Pradesh was not an exception. The Central Government provided a financial assistance of Rs 7161 crore to the State Government during the pandemic in form of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, Atamnirbhar Bharat, during Lockdown and DISCOM, he said.
Thakur further said the State Government has taken an initiative to attract private investments in the state and organized Global Investors' Meet at Dharamshala. MoUs worth Rs 96,000 crores were signed by several renowned entrepreneurs. The event was a mega success as a ground breaking ceremony of projects worth Rs 13,600 crore was performed within one month of the meet, he added.
He said that steps needed to be taken to create resources to generate income for the state and some harsh steps needed to be taken to check haphazard expansions. Now, the focus must be on strengthening the existing infrastructure, he added.
During the meeting, Power Minister Sukh Ram Chaudhary urged to provide time bound approval to the industrialists to set up their units in the state.
He said that steps must be taken to check illegal mining in the state, but at the same time provide mining lease to the people to promote scientific mining.