Annual plan outlay fixed at ₹7,530 cr.

Financial road map Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, his Cabinet colleagues, Members of Parliament, senior IAS, PCS and police officers at the State Planning Board meeting in Puducherry on Friday.

Financial road map Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, his Cabinet colleagues, Members of Parliament, senior IAS, PCS and police officers at the State Planning Board meeting in Puducherry on Friday.   | Photo Credit: T_Singaravelou

The U.T. managed to scrape through last financial year in meeting its commitments, says Kiran Bedi

The State Planning Board, which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi on Friday, has recommended an annual plan outlay of ₹7,530 crore this financial year, an increase of ₹585 crore over the last fiscal.

Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, Ministers, Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar, Finance Secretary V. Candavelou and Members of Parliament R. Radhakrishnan (Lok Sabha) and N. Gokulakrishnan (Rajya Sabha) participated.

The Lieutenant Governor, in a message to reporters, said the Union Territory financially scraped through last year and could meet its commitments till the end of the last fiscal. “We have areas of revenue generation where we could have generated additional resources. Hence, we need to correct that this year,” she said.

Ms. Bedi asked officers to flag policy and financial issues and place matters before the Cabinet for timely resolutions. The administrative leadership must attend and build on what it had and address internal training management issues such as training, capacity building, rationalisation of work force, redress of public grievances and field delivery.

The Lt. Governor suggested that the Cabinet meet more frequently and take calibrated risks to address policy and financial issues.

They need to inform and communicate their respective constituencies of the role people could play in sanitation, safety, skill learning, sustainable agriculture and public health. This would save resources and enable more quality service to the people.

The Members of Parliament from Puducherry should engage with Central Ministries in addressing the Union Territory issues which would reduce pressure on secretaries and the remove the need to travel to Delhi frequently, she said.

Wish list to Centre

Ms. Bedi assured the meeting to take up with the Centre to include the Union Territory under the purview of the 15th Finance Commission at the forthcoming conference of Governors on June 1.

She would also raise the issues of the Centre bearing pension expenses as had been done in the case of New Delhi; ensure 100% funding of Centrally sponsored schemes as in the case of other Union Territories; setting up of High Court Bench in Puducherry; waiver of legacy loans totalling ₹7,000 crore and set up family and CBI court in Puducherry.

The Lt. Governor urged Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and tasked the Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar with bringing out a vision document for Puducherry and Karaikal for the next 10 years.

The vision document should specify meeting of annual targets in areas of water, sanitation, public health, skill development, agriculture, tourism, renewable power, education, rural development and all other priority sectors with a roadmap for finances.