PM apprised of impact of pared budget support

The Planning Commission is understood to have apprised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about the adverse impact that the reduction in budgetary support in the coming fiscal will have on the economy

Official sources told PTI Deputy Chairman of the Commission, K C Pant has in a written communication to the Prime Minister, informed him about the adverse impact of the cut in gross budgetary support (GBS) in 2003-04 on the social sectors, particularly education, drinking water and employment.

The Finance Ministry had recently communicated to the Planning Commission that the GBS for the next fiscal was proposed to be finalised at Rs 1,17,500 crore as against the Rs 1,34,000 crore sought by the Commission.

With a GBS of Rs 1,13,500 crore in the current fiscal, the Rs 1,17,500 crore figure effectively means that the GBS remains frozen at last year's level if one discounts the 3.5-four per cent rate of inflation.

Pant is understood to have drawn particular reference to the impact of a reduced GBS on unemployment which is expected to grow substantially during the current five year plan period.

The projects which would be most severely hit would include the National Highways Development Project, the railway sector in particular, the Metropolitan Urban Transport Project in Mumbai or the Golden Quadrilateral upgradation, the village electrification programme and the family welfare programme.