Lieutenant Governor A. K. Singh on Monday announced that the Planning Commission approved Rs. 2,400 crore as plan size for 2014-15 financial year.
The budget session of Puducherry Legislative Assembly began with Lieutenant Governor Mr. Singh delivering the customary address to the MLAs. At the beginning of address, AIADMK MLAs led Deputy Leader A. Anbalagan staged a walk-out protesting against the alleged failure of ruling All India NR Congress Government in implementation of schemes which were announced earlier.
“The Planning Commission has allowed a plan size of Rs. 2,400 crore for the annual plan 2014-15 as against the plan size of Rs. 2,000 crore last year. This is because of higher internal resources, pursuing of
more central schemes in the new Government and allocation of long pending funds for Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction Project (CDRRP) to the tune of Rs.188 crore”, said Mr. Singh.
He also highlighted that the Government has been spending a sizable fund on social and human resources infrastructure.
Pointing out that Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is one of the major indicators for determining the State’s economy, Mr. Singh said the GSDP of Puducherry has increased from Rs.16,769 crore to Rs. 21,061 crore for the year 2013-14 showing growth rate of 25.59 per cent over 2012-13. The per capita income of Puducherry increased from Rs. 1,29,460 in 2012-13 to Rs.1,58,630 in 2013-14, showing a growth rate of 22.5 per cent.
He said, “We have also taken efforts to computerise the treasury operations under Central Assistance Programme. The Public Finance Management System (PFMS) has been completed which will facilitate
online flow of funds from the Central Ministries concerned to the Union territory departments and to further distribute the scheme benefits to the beneficiaries in a transparent manner.”
Listing out major programmes and achievements under various sectors during 2013-14, he said the average productivity of paddy, a major crop in Puducherry has increased from 4.38 tons to 5.78 tons per hectare. It is an increase of 32 per cent over the previous three years’ average. Similarly the productivity of sugarcane has increased by 10 per cent. This achievement was accomplished due to the technological intervention by adoption of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and precision farming techniques.
Aadhaar integrated biometric based Smart Ration Cards were issued to family ration card holders in all four regions of the Union Territory. It has enabled delivery of commodity to the ration card holders through point of sale devices at fair price shops. Out of 3,33,377 family ration cards, 2,28 biometric cards have been issued.
Stating that the Government has been undertaking several measures to facilitate trade and business in a transparent and efficient manner, the Lieutenant Governor said the revenue collection during 2013-14 was
Rs.1,257 crore. Based on buoyancy in the market, the revenue target for the present financial year 2014-15 is kept at Rs.1,380 crore. Online renewal under VAT has been linked with e-payment, benefiting 11,000 traders.
“The Government is fully committed to promote education to all, provide better health care services, ensure speedy socio-economic development for the upliftment of downtrodden people and to work towards a balances and equitable development of all the four regions”, said Mr. Singh.
