By IANS,
New Delhi : The Planning Commission Friday okayed Rs.38,000 crore annual plan expenditure for Gujarat, focused on increased spending on infrastructure, education, health and social welfare programmes.
The annual plan for the state was finalised at the meeting of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi here, according to an official statement released after the meeting.
In the meeting, Ahluwalia appreciated the efforts of Gujarat government in improving the pace of development and creating a investment friendly environment.
He said especially commendable are the efforts aimed at imaginative use of public private partnership in major projects.
Modi said development expenditure of the state has increased sharply in the last few years due to greater public spending on education, agriculture, healthcare, and social welfare programmes.
The state is controlling non-development expenditure through restructuring of debt, reduction in cost of borrowing and right-sizing of staff, he said.
He said during the current plan period (2007-11), nearly 42 percent of plan allocation has been made for the social sector keeping in mind the overall objective of improving the human development index of the state.
Gujarat was likely to register 11.2 percent growth during the 2007-11 period, as targeted in the plan, Modi said.