The 2009-10 annual plan for Meghalaya was on Thursday finalised at Rs. 2,100 crore in a meeting here between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Meghalaya Chief Minister D.D. Lapang.
Initiating the discussions, Mr. Ahluwalia lauded the government’s efforts to improve the social and physical infrastructure in the State and stressed on encouraging public-private partnership in infrastructure to accelerate the pace of development.
While appreciating the State’s initiatives in promoting floriculture and horticulture, he pointed out that development of the road network was necessary for accelerating economic activities and providing health cover to the people.
The Planning Commission, Mr. Ahluwalia said, was working on mid-term review of the 11th Plan, and would hold discussions at the regional level soon. In this regard, he pointed out that the State government should not only flag areas of concern, but also highlight initiatives for improving the pace of implementation of programmes during the remaining Plan period.
Briefing the Commission on his government’s initiatives and programmes, Dr. Lapang noted that there was substantial improvement in social sector indices, and pointed out that sectors such as health and education had shown remarkable improvement.
He pointed out that while initiatives were taken in the health sector in partnership with private entities, efforts were also being made to improve road network. As for the current fiscal, the Chief Minister said transport would receive top priority, social services and energy would also get more than 20 per cent of the budget outlay.
