Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister A K Antony said here that he was hopeful of the Centre considering the state's request to let it raise Rs 500 crore from the market to salvage the Annual Plan. At the same time, Mr Antony lashed out at the nationalised banks for not helping the state government or the development activities in the state.

Antony, who was back from New Delhi after attending a conference of chief ministers, told reporters here that he had raised the issue of 'the neglect of the state by the nationalised banks' at the conference.

The credit-deposit ratio of the banks in the state rose by a meagre 1.5 per cent this year compared to the previous year. The ratio in the State remained one of the lowest in the country as the banks continued to divert huge deposits they received from the state to other parts of the country, he said.

According to Antony, the state was not able to meet the Plan target because of a resource crunch and hence he had asked for Central assistance either as a special package or as permission to mobilise Rs 500 crore from the market. Though the Union finance minister did not give any word regarding the requests, he said he was hopeful of getting permission to raise money from the market.

Antony said that fortunately the state government was now able to meet the expenditure for salary, pension and interest on loans, but it still needed money for development works. Kerala was ready to join the VAT (value-added tax) bandwagon from April 1, 2003, if the Centre could compensate the loss to the state on account of this.

The chief minister said that Kerala did not favour the proposal to freeze the bonus and DA of employees though some other states supported it. His government was not for taking away such benefits from the employees, but there could be delay in the DA disbursal because of financial constraints.

Kerala, along with other states, wanted the Centre to make the Plan size ratio for Central assistance and state's share 50:50 rather than the present 70:30.

The state had supported the NTPC proposal to raise the capacity of the Kayamkulam thermal plant by 1950 MW to 2300 MW using LNG that cost less as fuel. It also met the requirement to set up a Coast Guard Unit by handing over 5.6 acres of land.

The chief minister said that the state had sought assistance of Rs 25 crore as flood relief from the Centre. It also sought 25,000-tonne rice under the Food-for-Work scheme in the Plantation and Adivasi sectors.