NEW DELHI: The budget session of the Delhi assembly will begin from March 8 and the Delhi government is likely to present its budget for 2021-22 on March 9. The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday.
The outcome budget, a document mapping performance and achievements of departments during the previous financial year, will be presented on the first day of the session besides Delhi’s Economic Survey.
“Delhi assembly budget session to begin on March 8, Monday. Delhi Cabinet decided today,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia tweeted. The session will begin with the address of the lieutenant governor and all Covid norms like social distancing and wearing of masks will be followed during the session.
Last year the government passed a Rs 65,000 crore budget for 2020-21 and Rs 50 crore was set aside to deal with Covid pandemic. The Rs 65,000 crore budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021 was nearly 10% higher than the budget estimate of the previous year. The government revenue collection has dropped by 42% due to the pandemic.
The budget is likely to be focused on environment and transport among other sectors while a significant portion of the budget may be earmarked for health and education sectors which have been the priority areas of the AAP government. Infrastructure revamp in unauthorised colonies, providing houses to slum dwellers, providing 24x7 water supply in all parts of Delhi are likely to be among the top priorities. The campaign to switch to electric vehicles being promoted under the government’s electric vehicle policy may be one of the highlights of the budget.
All eyes are on the budget 2021-22 because the first year of Kejriwal 3.0 government was by and large spent fighting Covid-19 pandemic and there was a massive decline in revenue collection. Now that the pandemic seems to be waning the government may shift more resources to various areas of development.
Sisodia, who will be presenting the budget in the assembly as finance minister, will be doing so for the seventh consecutive year.
The budget session will conclude on March 16.