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Plan panel meet likely to be acrimonious

BS Economy Bureau

The full meeting of the Planning Commission to be chaired by the PM next week is expected to be an acrimonious one as the finance ministry and the commission have locked horns on the issue of the 10th Plan financing, as well as that of allowing the commission any role in the preparation of the revised budget estimates of the Centre.

Officials from the two bodies have been unable to reconcile the differences even after several rounds of meeting including Monday.

While the finance ministry has been blaming the commission for the overdose of expenditure on plan heads over the years, the commission in turn has criticised the ministry for the way the divestment proceeds have been linked to plan financing.

According to sources the commission is against the formula of the current budget to be extended to the 10th Plan. The differences have put the entire question of plan financing in peril ahead of the critical meeting of the commission to be attended by Vajpayee, and Yashwant Sinha and other senior ministers.

The meeting is expected to clear the draft approach paper for the 10th plan (2002-07).

The differences between the finance ministry and Planning Commission has also had its impact on the way the government has approached the Ninth Plan, now in its last fiscal year.

Critical investment decisions have been delayed or put on the back burner putting at stake the growth prospects of the economy.

But sources said it is essential to narrow the differences as the commission meeting on June 29 has to also decide on a revision of the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula, that guides allocation of resources between states.

They said the dispute will also have an impact on the plan body's attempt to carve a new role for itself including a role in the preparation of the revised estimates in the budget of the Centre.

The panel has claimed that the repeated differences between the Budget and the revised estimates for 2000-01 show that unless it is involved, an accurate estimate of the actual expenditure from the various ministries and the states will not be possible.

On the agenda are several other contentious issues including giving a think-tank role to the commission.

The issues were put in the back burner during the mid-term review of the Ninth Plan as the finance minister cited paucity of time as the reason.

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