Budget allocation for Delhi police up by over Rs 500 crore

The Union government has allocated ₹7,496.86 crore to Delhi Police in its budget estimates (BE) for 2019-20 — 7.93% more than the previous ₹ 6,946.28 crore. However, in terms of raise year over year, the allocation this time is nearly 10 percentage point less than what it was for the previous financial year.

Besides the total budget allocation in revenue and capital sections (planned and non-plan expenditure), ₹384.86 crore (BE) has been granted for ramping up infrastructure such as building new police stations, offices and residential buildings, and implementing schemes under public private partnership (PPP).

The allocation under this category, however, is nearly ₹76 crore less than what it was allotted in the 2018-19 budget. The police had received ₹460.95 crore for infrastructure last year.

RA Sanjeev, additional commissioner of police (General Administration), said the Union government has allotted ₹550.63 (BE) crore more in revenue and capital sections for the next fiscal year.

“The revenue section includes salary of the police personnel. The enhanced allocation would be used in upgrading road safety infrastructure, traffic and communication network and introducing latest technologies,” said the additional commissioner.

The police have got ₹162.63 crore (BE) for capital expenditure this year, up by ₹7.95 crore over 2018-19 allocation.

Last year, the police got ₹5 crore for Intelligence Traffic Management System (ITMS) while ₹5.50 crore was to be spent on installation and maintenance of traffic signals and blinkers. The remaining budget allocation was for purchase and maintenance of police vehicles, machinery and equipments and capacity building.

In last year’s budget estimates, ₹3.20 crore was meant for development of traffic and communication network and ₹43.29 crore for upgrading road safety.

The expenditure details under the two categories for the next fiscal have not been released by the city police.

Senior police officers said they don’t know estimated budget allocation under Nirbhaya Fund for the next fiscal.

Last year, ₹19.75 crore was allocated to the Delhi Police under Nirbhaya Fund, which was to be used for construction of a new building for a special police unit for women and children (SPUWAC) and special police unit for north-east region (SPUNER), a proposal that was approved in 2016-17 by the ministry of women and child development (WCD).

First Published: Feb 02, 2019 12:08 IST