The Delhi administration finally presented its Budget document on Wednesday, a day after it was initially supposed to be tabled in the Assembly.
On Wednesday, one day after it was initially scheduled to be brought to the Assembly, the Delhi government finally presented its Budget for the year 2023-24 with the theme ‘Clean, Beautiful, and Modern Delhi.’
Delhi’s finance minister Kailash Gahlot presented the proposed Budget for the year with a total allocation of Rs 78,800 crores.This is about 2.5 times the amount spent in 2014–15 (Rs 30,940 crore) and 8.69% more than the revised estimates for 2022–23.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led administration hopes to launch one of the most ambitious and comprehensive schemes in Delhi’s history to transform it into a “clean, beautiful, and modern city” with this Budget. The ambitious theme is supported by nine significant plans. The largest such project in Delhi’s history, the administration plans to upgrade and beautify 1,400 km of the entire PWD road network over a ten-year period for an estimated cost of close to Rs 20,000 crore.
A total of 28 flyovers were finished in the last eight years, according to the Budget document, and work is currently being done on another 26 flyovers. They include the Najafgarh Phirni elevated road and the Barapullah Phase 3 overpass from Sarai Kale Khan to Mayur Vihar.
In partnership with DMRC, it will build three double-decker flyovers from Saket to Pul Prahaladpur, from Azadpur to Rani Jhansi junctions, and from Bhajanpura to Yamuna Vihar. These double-decker flyovers will include an upper deck for the Metro rail and a lower deck for vehicles.
As part of a large plan to introduce 8,280 electric buses (or 80% of the fleet) by 2025 with a financial outlay of Rs 28,500 crore in 12 years, the Budget suggests introducing 1,600 new zero-emission electric buses in 2019. In a first, a specialised “mohalla bus” last-mile connection programme would be introduced in Delhi the following year with 100 smaller (nine-meter-length) electric buses, increasing to 2,180 “mohalla buses” by 2025.
In addition, all 57 existing Delhi bus depots will be electrified so that they are ready for the introduction of electric buses. The cost is anticipated to be over Rs 1,500 crore.
Three modern Inter-State Bus Terminals (ISBTs) with airport-like amenities will be built at Sarai Kale Khan, Anand Vihar, and Dwarka to contemporise transportation infrastructure. They will be known as “Bus Ports.” In addition, two multi-level bus depots with up to six levels of parking, two modern bus terminals, and nine additional bus depots will be built. Also, 1,400 brand-new, contemporary bus stop shelters will be built in Delhi with digital screens and cutting-edge Passenger Information Systems (PIS) that will show bus arrival times.
Action plan with six steps towards a clean Yamuna in its Budget, the Delhi government promised to quickly extend the sewer network to all colonies and clusters. Next year, there will be 1,317 unauthorised colonies connected to the sewer network, nearly doubling from 747. Free residential sewer connections will still be available to Delhi residents.
The Rs 56,983 crores of the total Rs 78,800 worth of Budget is assigned for the purpose of revenue expenditure and an outlay of Rs 21,817 crore under capital expenditure. Interestingly, the Budget for this year has increased capital expenditure’s percentage of the total Budget by 27.68%. The capital outlay of Rs 7,430 crore in 2014–15 is nearly double the anticipated capital expenditure of Rs 21,817 crore.
In the budget document, it is specifically highlighted that the “Delhi Government to join hands with MCD and provide financial assistance to get rid of Delhi’s three garbage mountains of shame in next two years – Okhla landfill by December 2023, Bhalaswa landfill by March 2024 and Ghazipur landfill by December 2024.”
Education and Health
The biggest investment is expected to go towards health and education in 2023–2024. Education and health are each allocated Rs 16,575 crore (21%) and Rs 9,742 crore, respectively (12 per cent).
The proposed Budget calls for giving new tablets to all teachers (regular, contractual, and guest), vice principals, principals, and DDEs working in Delhi government schools.
The document says, “New Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics to come up at Metro stations. The number of Mahila Mohalla Clinics to expand from 4 to 100 in the coming year.”
There will be 450 additional free test locations at Mohalla Clinics, up from 250. Also, an expansion plan is in the works to bring the total number of patient beds in Delhi government hospitals from 14,200 to 30,000.
In addition to this, the Delhi government will finish restoring 20 lakes in a few months.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed the AAP-led Delhi government to resubmit the Budget on Monday in order to address the observations made by the Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena regarding the Budget. According to reports, before authorising the presentation of the Budget, the Center had requested clarification on the Aam Aadmi Party government’s spending on advertisements.
The Budget must first have sanction from the Home Ministry before it can be presented in the Assembly. AAP-led Delhi government cited this as a reason for a day’s delay in presenting the budget.
The Delhi government, on Monday, presented the Status Report on the Outcome Budget and Economic Review for 2022–23 in the Assembly. According to the Economic Survey document, Delhi’s per capita income is projected to be Rs 444,768 in 2022–2023 at current prices, an increase of 14.18% from the previous year.
The Economic Report normally includes statistics about the state’s economy as well as the development of other agencies. The annual report is created each year and delivered to the Legislature during the budget session.
According to the survey, Delhi’s per capita income has consistently been roughly 2.6 times greater than the national average, both at current prices and constant prices.
The economy survey usually provides some insight into the format and substance of the final 2023–24 budget, which is typically presented the day before budget day. The survey also revealed that Delhi, which is predominately a service sector, will provide 84.84 per cent of Gross State Value Added (at current prices) in 2022–2023, followed by the contributions of the Secondary Sector (12.53 per cent) and Primary Sector (2.63 per cent). According to the Economic Survey, “The tertiary (or service) sector plays a pivotal role in the state economy both in terms of employment generation and contribution to state income.”
Based on the survey, Delhi’s GDP is expected to reach Rs 1,043,759 crore in 2022–2023 at current prices, representing a rise of 15.38% over 2021–2022 in terms of GDP size.
Hopes of a strong recovery in the services sector, consumption, and investment have been revived as the economy’s return to normalcy has been accelerated by the success of Delhi’s massive vaccination drive.
Finance minister Kailash Gahlot had said, “Our government is the first to start the outcome budget. We keep our report card in front of the public, and we track each flagship scheme through two indicators, the Output Indicator and the Outcome Indicator.” The Outcome Budget 2022–23 had 23 major departments under which significant programmes and schemes were selected. Key output and progress indicators were then created for each of these programmes and schemes.
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