Delhi Deputy CM and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia before presenting the annual Delhi Budget at the Legislative Assembly on Thursday. (Express Photos/Tashi Tobgyal)
The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government on Thursday presented its Rs 53,000 crore budget for 2018-19 fiscal with special emphasis on environment, health and education sectors. Presenting the estimates for the new fiscal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the Finance Minister, said the budget follows “trickle up” economics which aimed to benefit the poor and middle-class people in Delhi. “The budget estimates for 2018-19 are pegged at Rs 53,000 crore which is 19.45 per cent more than the revised budget estimates of Rs 44,370 crore for the previous financial year,” he said in his speech which lasted more than one-and-a-half hour.
While making a slew of announcements for what is considered to be Delhi’s first Green budget, the finance minister emphasised on the need to reduce pollution levels in the national capital through various measures, including concession in the registration of CNG vehicles. “We are going to thread 26 programmes and schemes of transport, power, environment and PWD for devising a unified system of pollution control, bringing down levels of different pollutants,” Sisodia said, adding that the government has also proposed to allocate Rs 1,000 crore for repair and maintenance of smaller roads owned by the municipal corporations.
Chief minister Arivind Kejriwal congratulated Sisodia for presenting a ‘splendid budget’ and said, “In the budget, government had taken care of all sections of society. There is a lot for poor people, women, middle class and students. It is a first of its kind Green Budget in the country. Besides education and health, we have focused on roads, sewer and water. We have also stressed on investment in these three areas.”
Here are some of the announcements which were made by the government today:
Environment: The government has promised the installation of 1,000 indoor display boards in government buildings to spread information on air pollution levels. It has also announced 50 per cent concession in registration of CNG vehicles and installation of solar panels over 16 km cycle track. It also announced subsidy for restaurants who decided to make the switch from coal to electricity or gas-based tandoors
Education: Overall, an amount of Rs 13,9997 crore has been allocated for the sector. Installation of CCTV cameras in school buildings, self-defence training for female students, promotion of sports in schools and setting up of a world-class skill centre were some of the promises made by the minister. Rs 175 lakh has been allocated for the CCTV project.
26% of Budget being allocated for Education, total amount Rs. 13,997 Crore.
Education gets around 25% of total Budget for the third consecutive year.
#AamAadmiBudget pic.twitter.com/HQhFcohn9Q— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) March 22, 2018
Health: An allocation of Rs 6,729 crore, which is 12 per cent of the total budget, has been made for the health sector, and the launch of a ‘health insurance for all’ scheme was announced in the budget. Rs 100 crore has been allocated for the ‘health insurance for all’ scheme. First response vehicle will also be launched from East Delhi with 16 bike ambulances and Rs 403 crore will be allocated for setting up ‘mohalla’ and poly clinics in the national capital.
Others:
-Installation of 1.2 lakh cameras across the city by June next year
-Rs 100 crore for free Wi-Fi
-Doorstep delivery of government services by June 1; Rs 15 crore for infrastructure development in unauthorised colonies