PANAJI: The Planning Commission on Tuesday approved the annual plan size for Goa for Rs 2,710 crore, including public sector undertakings and local bodies, for the financial year 2010-11, which shows an increase of Rs 470 crore (21 per cent) over the last financial year’s outlay of Rs 2,240 crore.

The annual plan was finalised after a meeting between the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.
The plan panel has also sanctioned additional central assistance of Rs 60 crore, including Rs 35 crore for National Games, Rs 15 crore for sewerage in coastal belt and Rs 10 crore for art and culture including museum.
The meeting between Dr Ahluwalia and Mr Kamat was preceded by an another  meeting under the chairpersonship of Ms Sudha Pillai, the secretary of Planning Commission earlier in the day for evaluation of the resource estimates of the state for finalisation of the annual plan size 2009-10.
The Chief Secretary made a detailed Powerpoint presentation on the important initiatives of the state government and also the achievements made by the state government in various sectors of the economy.
The Chief Minister impressed upon Dr Ahluwalia on the  important but critical issues faced by the state, such as hosting of National Games, 2011, huge tourism pressure on the resources of Goa, importantly, road and other logistic infrastructure, burden of  the 6th Pay Commission on state government’s resources.
He apprised the Commission of the new initiatives that the government has announced in the budget 2010-2011, more particularly on the development of infrastructure under PPP mode. These include greenfield airport at Mopa, Panaji-Vasco sealink, development of minor ports, National Games and Convention Centre, etc.
The Deputy Chairman congratulated the Chief Minister on his new initiatives, more particularly on development of infrastructure on PPP. He and other members of the plan panel appreciated the progress made by the state in various sectors.
Mr Kamat reiterated the demand for one-time financial grant for maintenance and development of road infrastructure of Rs 350 crore, one-time grant of Rs 326 crore for National Games, Rs 100 crore as a special grant for sealink, Rs 200 crore for the Mopa airport, Rs 150 crore for implementation of the 6th Pay Commission and Rs 10 crore for Kala Academy for promotion of art and culture.
Mr Kamat appreciated Dr Ahluwalia and his team at the Planning Commission for being receptive and accommodating towards the important issues, concerns and requirements of the state.
Dr Ahluwalia, on the other hand, hailed the forward looking outlook of the state in providing its people with “excellent” social security net, sound healthcare services, initiatives on beach safety management, initiative on extending support to the art and culture, including encouragement to museum culture in the state.
However, he emphasised on leveraging the private sector participation in developing important infrastructure in the state, following which the secretary of the Planning Commission announced the plan size.
The state delegation included Mr Sanjay Kumar Shrivastava, the Chief Secretary; Mr Raajiv Yaduvanshi, the secretary to the Chief Minister; Mr Udipta Ray, finance and planning secretary, Mr Anand Sherkhane, the director (planning) and joint secretary (budget) and Mr Anupam Kishore, joint secretary (debt management unit).
The members of the Planning Commission who participated in the deliberations included Dr Narendra Jadhav, Dr R Kasturirangan, Mr Soumitra Choudhari and Mr B K Chaturvadi.