Friday, January 13 2006 18:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Centre has pledged Rs 8,424 crore as the new annual plan size for Rajasthan, the biggest since the state's creation, but Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje said discussions were on with the Planning Commission to increase it to Rs 8,600 crore.

Also, Raje requested the Centre to fully implement recommendations of the Eleventh and the Twelfth Finance Commissions in her state.

"The non or partial implementation of the recommendations of the Eleventh and Twelfth Finance Commissions is constraining the state's resources," she told reporters here after meeting Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Planning Commission Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Raje said her state was suffering a resource crunch of up to Rs 825 crore.

She also opposed a central directive to reduce fiscal deficit to three per cent by 2008-09, saying any such move would compress capital spending by almost Rs 500 crore in from 2008 to 2010.

"We, however, thank the Centre for the new Rs 8,424-crore annual plan size, the biggest since Rajasthan has come into being. But efforts are being made to increase it to Rs 8,600 crore in consultation with the Planning Commission and the Union Finance Ministry," she remarked.

The Chief Minister also attacked her predecessors for Rajasthan's economic record under their rule, saying her Government inherited a mere Rs 8,689 crore as against the Tenth Plan outlay of Rs 31,831 crore.