Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday said the annual plan outlay
for  Tamil Nadu for the year 2013-2014 has been fixed at  Rs 37,128
crore.

Talking to the media after holding discussions with Montek
Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Union Planning Commission at New
Delhi, the Chief Minister said a 20 per cent cut was made by Government
of India in the plan expenditure in revised estimates for 2012-2013.

“Last
year in 2012-2013, the central government budgeted plan assistance for
TN was Rs 3,473.48 crore. But finally the amount released was only Rs
2,762.14 crore. So, the credibility of the entire planning and budgetary
process has been undermined and the state finances and scheme
implementation have been adversely affected as a result”, she said.

Despite
being let down by the Government of India, the Government of Tamil Nadu
not only fulfilled but overachieved its plan outlay of Rs 28,000 crore
fixed for last year 2012-13 with the State’s own resources.

Not
only that, the additional central assistance (ACA) for 2012-13 last year
was fixed at Rs160 crore but only Rs128.63 crore was actually released.

The remaining amount of Rs 31.37 crore was not released in the previous financial year.

She
said the non-release of additional central assistance promised in a
meeting of the Union Planning Commission at the level of the deputy
chairman with the Chief Minister was a serious matter and the State
government hope that this is an aberration that would not be repeated
this year.

Of the total outlay of Rs 37,128 crore, 91 per cent 
would be financed through the State’s resources. Only nine per cent
would come from the Centre.

Ahluwalia said the CM has expressed
reservations on Direct Benefit Transfer scheme (DBT). “Like in the rest
of the country, water is going to be very big issue in the state. TN is
urbanizing very rapidly and their forecast is that by 2023, Tamil Nadu
will be 67 per cent urban,” Ahluwalia said.