The Annual Plan for the year 2012-13 for Chhattisgarh was finalised here on Thursday at a meeting between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister Raman Singh.

GUWAHATI: A crucial meeting between the Assam Government and the Planning Commission to decide on the Annual Plan size for the State for the financial year 2012-13 is slated to take place on June 5.

The Assam Government, said sources, will seek an Annual Plan allocation of Rs 14,537.33 crore. Last year, the Planning Commission had fixed Assam’s Annual Plan size at Rs 9,000 crore. In this meeting,

The ministerial panel, headed by FM, recommends green clearance to be considered by the Cabinet

In a major relief to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power, Aditya Birla Group and Essar Power, a 12-member ministerial panel on coal on Wednesday recommended environmental clearance for two coal blocks linked to critical infrastructure projects being developed by the three major corporate houses. Environmental clearance for the blocks had been hanging fire for two years, following the environment ministry’s controversial ‘no-go’ classification that had barred mining in heavily-forested areas.

New Delhi Power, cement and steel companies, which are facing uncertainty due to environmental and other regulatory issues over their captive coal blocks, can now relax. This is because the government will soon come out with a policy on allocation of alternative coal blocks to them. The group of ministers on coal, slated to meet here on Wednesday, is expected to approve the new policy proposed by the coal ministry.

The idea, said a government source, is to remove impediments to use captive mining rights. The proposed policy would help develop projects worth billions of dollars in these sectors.

The Tamil Nadu Planning Commission has achieved an outlay of Rs 85,344 crore during the 11th Five-Year Plan that ended on March 31, 2012, an increase of 113 per cent over the outlay for the 10th Plan.

The Plan incorporated the objective of achieving over 2007-2012, an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of nine per cent in the state’s economy. The expenditure exceeded the approved outlay during every year of the 11th Plan period, the commission said.

The Planning Commission has distanced itself from the government’s decision to appoint a committee to reconsider the way poverty numbers are estimated, indicating a deep divide between the politica

PEs demanding lower valuation for power biz, more say in management

The Planning Commission in its 12th Plan (2012-17) document has suggested implementation of the UPA’s flagship rural employment programme scheme, MGNREGA, in mission mode.

According to the document, a copy of which is with this newspaper, the programme should be implemented by an autonomous society called the MGNREGA Mission, which should have a national management team with leading experts from the fields relevant to the scheme implementation.

11th plan target could not be met due to environmental problems

The Planning Commission and Power Ministry are believed to have reached a consensus over fixing the capacity addition target at 90,000 MW for the next five years. Earlier, Power Ministry had proposed a target of adding 76,000 MW in the current 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), keeping fuel constraints in mind. On the other hand Planning Commission wanted the target to be 1,00,000 MW, as the power demand is very high.

Move A Rejection Of 28/Day Poverty Line Formula