The plan size was finalised here in a meeting between Planning Commission Deputy ChairmanMontek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik.

The state had asked for a plan outlay of Rs 21,467 crore for 2013-14.

“We have approved plan size of Rs 21,500 crore for Odisha. Chief
Minister has raised issues about certain areas where the central
government can help, particularly on issues of environmental clearances
which can sometimes effect the pace of development of the state. We have
said that we will look into this,” Ahluwalia told reporters after the
meeting.

He said the state had shown appreciable progress in
the 11th Plan (2007-12) including agriculture and more efforts are
needed to improve basic amenities and address the issue of adverse child
sex ratio.

He also said public private partnership needs to be further encouraged in both physical and social infrastructure development.

“For faster and balanced socio-economic development, the major focus of
the state is to develop critical infrastructure mainly electricity,
roads and water and to set up public sector investments in high priority sector such as agriculture, infrastructure and human development,” Patnaik said.

He said the Revised Long Term Action Plan for the KBK region, which
ended in 2011-12, should be extended for another ten years with enhanced
funding and the Perspective Plan should be approved as expeditiously as possible.

The KBK (Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi) districts of Odisha have been
historically rich in forest resources. However, the old Koraput and
Kalahandi districts and portions of Bolangir districts are mainly hilly.

Due to severe droughts and floods, this region faces
multi-faceted problems such as tribal backwardness, hill area
backwardness and backwardness due to severe natural calamities.

In 2006, government had approved Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) for KBK districts of Odisha including special plan for Bihar, West Bengal and Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

This year, the government has decided to continue the special plan for
the KBK districts of Odisha with an allocation of Rs 250 crore per annum
in the remaining four years 2013-14 to 2016-17 of the 12th Five Year
Plan.