Annual Plan for West Bengal for 2011-12 was finalised at Rs.22214 crore

The Annual Plan for West Bengal for 2011-12 was finalised at Rs.22214 crore at a meeting between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

At this level, the State Plan outlay for 2011-12 is over 23 per cent higher than the allocation of Rs.17985 crore for 2010-11.

During the discussions at the meeting the State Government outlined its priority areas of development such as infrastructure and livelihood, apart from focus on education, health and skill development. The Chief Minister also underlined the need for developing the tourism potential of the Darjeeling hill areas and the Sundarbans.

Mamata Banerjee also discussed the 17 new industrial clusters that her government plans to develop to help in creating more jobs. Out of these, six clusters would be in minority-dominated regions and plans are being drawn up to have 5000 industrial units.

A major focus area of the West Bengal government would be to develop tourism infrastructure to transform Kolkata into London and Darjeeling into Switzerland. Among other things, the State Government has plans to provide electricity connection to all villages within the next three years.
Mamata Banerjee expressed the need to take care of skill development, education and health which she mentioned were in a dangerous condition.

Ahluwalia pointed to the need to speed up growth in the State and making the process more inclusive. He too felt that the focus areas of these development initiatives should be health, education and employment generation.

The Planning Commission highlighted the need for new initiatives that are required to create an investor-friendly environment and improve the State's social and physical infrastructure through public-private partnerships in development of roads and health sector. The State Government's emphasis in the rebuilding process should be on improving revenue generation according to the Commission.

The focus of the state government would be on faster and more inclusive growth on a sustainable basis to provide better opportunities for employment and income generation. Emphasis would also be laid on development of micro, small and medium enterprises and improved delivery of services.