A delegation, led by chief minister D.D. Lapang and comprising deputy chief minister Mukul Sangma, who is in charge of planning, chief secretary Ranjan Chatterjee and other senior government officials, left for New Delhi today to discuss the plan allocation with the Planning Commission.
The meeting will take place on Thursday.
The plan size for Meghalaya last year was Rs 1,500 crore and the state government hopes that the Planning Commission will grant another Rs 1,000 crore this time to take up more development projects in the state.
Chief secretary Ranjan Chatterjee said the main thrust areas would be power sector and roads. At present, Meghalaya is facing a shortage of power and at least Rs 447 crore are required to take up various power projects in the state to overcome the crisis.
Though the demand for power is around 610MW, the availability from all sources is around 290MW during the monsoons and 175MW during the lean season.
The government is also giving equal priority to improvement of roads since most of the city roads are in bad shape after the rains.
The chief secretary said more funds were required to repair existing roads and construct new ones. Other focus areas include education, development of the border area, agriculture and community and rural development.
“We hope the Planning Commission will sanction Rs 2,500 crore to take up development projects so that the administration will get closer to the people,” Chatterjee said.