Draft 12th Five Year Plan to be discussed
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 9: State Cabinet, which is meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister tomorrow morning, is likely to do away with the stop-gap arrangement at the level of Commissioner-Secretary and Secretary in various Administrative Departments and appoint permanent incumbents for better functioning of the departments. Moreover, it will also discuss the Draft 12th Five Year Plan for the State prepared as per the Approach Paper and Guidelines for Classification of Expenditure issued by the Planning Commission of India.
Authoritative sources told EXCELSIOR that Chief Minister has decided to do away with the stop-gap arrangement and adhocism in various Administrative Departments and appoint permanent incumbents to the posts of Commissioner Secretary/ Secretary.
At present, Commissioner Secretary Higher Education Department, Tanvir Jahan, has been holding the additional charge of Commissioner-Secretary Health and Medical Education since the retirement of Ghulam Ahmad Peer.
Similarly, Commissioner-Secretary Agriculture Production Department, Shaleen Kabra has been holding the additional charge of Commissioner-Secretary Animal Husbandry and Sheep Husbandry since the transfer of Bishen Dass Sharma as Commissioner Secretary Irrigation and PHE. Mr Kabra is also holding the additional charge of Commissioner Secretary Cooperatives since the retirement of Abdul Hamid Wani.
Bipul Pathak has been without posting since his repatriation from the Central deputation earlier this year, sources said.
Commissioner Secretary Revenue, Bashir Ahmad Roniyal has been holding the additional charge of Financial Commissioner Revenue since the retirement of Dr R K Jerath. Likewise, Umang Narula, Commissioner-Secretary Industries has been holding the additional charge of Administrative Secretary Public Enterprises.
Sources informed that Cabinet will thoroughly discuss Draft 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) and Annual Plan 2012-13 before communicating the same to the Planning Commission of India.
“The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission has already conveyed to the State Government that while having Annual Plan discussion for 2012-13, the Planning Commission would like to have a broad idea of the size, sectoral priorities, programmes and other initiatives envisaged in the Draft 12th Five Year Plan of the State”, sources said.
The State has prepared 12th Five Year Plan for an outlay of Rs 67,822.47 crore at 2011-12 prices. This includes Rs 8,630 crore revenue component and remaining capital component, sources said, adding in the draft, power, road connectivity, education, health, irrigation and rural development have been declared as priority sectors.
As per the draft, major portion of the Plan Investment would be spent on the productive sectors like agriculture, horticulture, dairy development and industries. As against growth rate of 6 per cent during 11th Five Year Plan, the average growth of 7.5 per cent during the 12th Five Year Plan period has been projected in the draft, sources said.
As far as employment avenues are concerned, around 6.40 lakh additional job opportunities are likely to be generated during the 12th Five Year Plan. These includes 1.20 lakh salaried jobs, 4.40 lakh self employment and 80,000 casual labourers, sources said quoting the draft, adding for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), an amount of Rs 13,000 crore has been proposed for the 2012-2017 period during which 36 crore mandays are likely to be generated.
In the draft, integration of NREGA works programme with line departments particularly in respect of road connectivity, flood protection and irrigation works has been suggested to maximize the achievement, sources further said, adding for the energy sector, the draft has proposed Rs 17,235 crore while as for the social services sector an amount of over Rs 20,000 has been proposed for the 12th Five Year Plan.
Similarly, as against Rs 1696 crore allocation during the 11th Five Year Plan, an amount of Rs 2947 crore has been proposed during the 12th Five Year Plan for the irrigation and flood control sector, sources said while disclosing that for the first time creation of State Innovation Fund has been proposed for e-governance and transparency initiatives.
It is pertinent to mention here that Draft 12th Five Year Plan has been prepared by the Planning and Development Department headed by B B Vyas with the assistance of two experts in the field— S Mahajan, former Secretary, Planning and Development Department, and G A Qureshi, former Director General, Economics and Statistics Organization.
The Cabinet will also accord approval to the regularization of 262 adhoc and contractual employees in different Departments and transfer of State land measuring 123 kanals and 13 marlas at Thanda Pani in favour of Industries and Commerce Department for setting up of Silk Cluster.
It will also approve transfer of 202 kanals of land for setting up of industrial estate in Udhampur district.
The proposals to change the nomenclature of allopathic dispensary as new type PHC and medical aid center as sub-centre and upgrade Sub Centre Trigam and Sub-Centre Madwan to the level of Primary Health Centres will also be placed before the Cabinet for approval, sources said.
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