PANAJI, Oct 2: The annual outlay for Goa for 1998-99 has been placed at Rs 291 crores, subsequent to a meeting between Chief Minister (CM) Wilfred D'Souza and Planning Commission Member Montek Singh Ahuwalia.The CM said the government had projected an outlay of Rs 271 crore and the commission added Rs 20 crore for the construction of minor bridges, roads and irrigation projects under rural infrastructure development fund programmes.Dr D'Souza impressed upon the Commission that Goa's population was 1.2 million and with an equal number of tourists visiting the State every year, its population would spiral to about three million. Thus, the allotment ought to consider this, he said.Planning Minister Dayanand Narvekar said Goa was witnessing a resource crunch and the people looked upon the Planning Commission for ``a fair deal in the allocation of outlay for the development process.'' Meanwhile, Ahluwalia suggested Goa enhance its resources by imposing additional levies on excise service charges on smallhotels.
