Indications are that the plan size of Rs 6,000 crore prepared by the Finance Department could see a gain of Rs 150-200 crore at the end of tomorrow's meeting between Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Punjab's annual plan will be approved on Tuesday. A meeting ahead of it was held at the office of the Planning Commission this evening in New Delhi in which Secretary, Central Planning Commission Subash Pani, Punjab Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh, Finance Secretary D S Kalha and other senior officials participated.

Interestingly, much to the surprise of officials, the Union Secretary's meeting finds no mention of issues concerning Punjab's plunging fiscal health. The poor realisation of taxes in Punjab, including its dismal collections from stamp duty and registrations, a phenomenon typical to Punjab going by the admission of top officials, too found just a passing reference in the meting.

Officials present at the meeting said, "The Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary were ready with their defence on the financial state. Fortunately, they found no trigger to present their views."

Punjab's resource mobilisation plans will be discussed at tomorrow's meeting. The state's plans on this front are being viewed as extremely vital, given the fact that the state will not only have to generate additional resources to make up for the estimated about Rs 1,500 crore deficit during the last fiscal, but will also have to devise ways and means to cope up with the increased plan size.

Today's meeting, which lasted two hours, saw officials engaged in broad discussions on the thrust areas of power and agriculture, which the state intends to emphasise upon. The state's performance with regard to the Union government's flagship schemes, including the JNURM, National Rural Health Mission and National Employment Guarantee scheme, too were discussed at length.

Punjab's laggard status in providing jobs under the Central scheme came up for discussion, sources said.