Patna, May 31: Improvement in education, health, basic infrastructure and governance were among the key suggestions made by the members of the civil society, traders, professionals and local bodies at their interaction with the Planning Commission today.

Briefing reporters at the end of the planning panel’s regional consultation meet that concluded today, Bihar principal secretary, planning and development, Vijoy Prakash, said: “The Planning Commission will prepare its approach paper incorporating the suggestions of the civil society to formulate the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. But the Bihar government too will prepare a simultaneous approach paper from the inputs from the civil society to improve its functioning in all the areas of governance.”

The civil society members also demanded the Planning Commission to evolve the measure to ensure sustainable livelihood.

Members of local bodies primarily drawn from urban areas and their periphery from across the state pointed out to the commission members that the elected panchayat bodies were lacking in infrastructural assets, manpower and also funds.

The Planning Commission members, Abhijit Sen, Arun Meira and Mihir Shah, represented the panel as its deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and political representatives of four other states had left Patna after making their submission yesterday itself. The Bihar welfare minister, Parveen Amanullah, industries minister, Renu Devi and officials concerned also attended the meet.

Members of local bodies also suggested increasing the manpower in the panchayat and other self-governing bodies and arrange what they described as “untied fund” to them. Untied fund means the fund outside the purview of the ones sanctioned for specific schemes. “The untied fund will give the liberty to the members of elected local bodies to meet emergency situations at the grassroots level.”

They also demanded that there should be a home for every family. Besides, the doctors should be made available for free check-up of the grassroots-level residents and right to education should be implemented in the hinterland all across the states, the civil society members and professionals suggested. They suggested that effective mechanism should be developed for waste management and development of non-conventional energy in the state woefully lacking in electric power. There should be arrangement for clean drinking water in all rural and urban areas.

Representatives of industrial bodies and members of local bodies together suggested the plan panel to rationalise the land acquisition policy. “The land acquisition policy should be put in place in such a way that neither the landowners nor the entrepreneurs could have the feeling of loss.”

Traders and entrepreneurs suggested that banks must improve their credit-deposit ratio to speed up the pace of investment in the state.

Prakash said the concluding session did not mean the end of the consultation process as the Planning Commission had opened a website on which individuals and organisations could post their suggestions/demands at any time ahead of the formulation of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.