The Mayawati Government has forwarded a Rs 25,000-crore annual plan to the Planning Commission with an assurance that agriculture would be the top priority of the Government.

The state hopes to get the approval of the plan panel by the first week of July to be able to present the same before the Vidhan Sabha. The state Government has assured the Centre that agriculture, along with employment generation, would be its focus areas. A meeting with the Planning Commission in this regard is expected next week, sources in the Government said.

The proposal forwarded by this Government is Rs 6,000 crore more than what the previous Government had received from the Centre for the financial year 2006-7. The Mulayam Singh Yadav Government had received Rs 19,000 crore under the annual plan from the Centre. Another sum of over Rs 3,000 crore is parked in the public ledger account as the whole amount sanctioned to the previous Government was not utilised. The Mayawati Government would also have this fund at their disposal.

The Government is also exploring possibilities of creating agriculture-related jobs in rural areas. A whopping Rs 6,000 crore has been earmarked for the regional employment offices all over the state. “Since we are financially comfortable, there is every possibility that we will double the budget for the agriculture sector this financial year. We are also trying every means to ensure better production so that we contribute substantially to this sector,” said state Agriculture Minister Laxminarayan Chaudhary.

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