AAP govt furious over Rs 758 crore for city

Kejriwal reminds Jaitley to end ‘step-motherly treatment’; Sisodia criticises Budget, says it has nothing for Delhi

The Union government has allocated only Rs 758 crore to the AAP government in Delhi for the fiscal year 2016-17. Of this amount, Rs 325 crore has been allocated under Central sales tax assistance while Rs 413 crore allocated under normal assistance from the Central government and Rs 15 crore has been provided for 1984 riot victims.

Citing an example of Punjab and Haryana, whose Central tax share allocation has been doubled for 2015-2020, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal reminded Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to end the “step-motherly treatment” of Delhi in terms of share in the Central taxes.

Mr Kejriwal had demanded Rs 5,000 crore annually from the Central government. In the run-up to the Union Budget for 2016-17, Mr Kejriwal had written a letter to Mr Jaitley seeking a share in Central taxes amounting to Rs 25,000 crore over a span of five years. The Central government had allocated Rs 730 crore to the Delhi government in the current fiscal year.

Lambasting the Union Budget, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said there was nothing for Delhi in the Union Budget 2016-17. “The share in Central taxes of Delhi has not been increased from Rs 325 crore which is stagnant since 2001-02.

The Delhi government deserves its legitimate share in the Central taxes to finance various developmental projects. We had requested the Government of India a number of times to enhance the allocation to at least Rs 5,000 crore as share in the Central taxes as against Rs 325 crore being released to Delhi.

The budget of Delhi has increased from Rs 8,739 crore in the year 2001-02 to Rs 41,129 crore in 2015-16, whereas its share in the Central taxes has remained frozen at Rs 325 crore since 2001-02,” Mr Sisodia said. According to Mr Sisodia, Central government has not earmarked any funds to local bodies in Delhi although the Delhi government had requested for allocation of at least Rs 1,000 crore as basic and performance grants to the local bodies in Delhi.

The capital has been given Rs 5 crore under disaster response fund. Mr Sisodia said mere Rs 5 crore as non-Plan grant has been proposed as an assistance for Delhi Disaster Response Fund, which is negligible. “It is unfortunate since Delhi falls in high seismic zone and it was hoped that the Central government will bear this important fact in mind while making allocations under this head, but that eventually did not happen,” he said.

On the normal Central assistance to Delhi, Mr Sisodia said that it was Rs 370 crore in 2000-01 and after 16 years it is proposed only at Rs 412.99 crore in the year 2016-17. “However, the Plan expenditure of Delhi has increased by six times from Rs 3,129 crore in 2000-01 to Rs19,000 crore in 2015-16,” he said.

On the compensation to 1984 riots victims, the Delhi government has already paid about Rs 76 crore as enhanced compensation to 1984 riot victims in the current year. However, in the Union Budget 2016-17, an amount of Rs 10 crore in the current year and Rs 15 crore in the next year has been proposed for reimbursement to the Delhi government.

“Delhi residents pay Rs 1,30,000 crore tax to the Central government and the city’s share in central tax pool is just Rs 325 crore,” Mr Kejriwal said during the AAP government’s Budget presentation in June last year. In his letter, Mr Kejriwal pointed to the recommendations of the 14th Central Finance Commission report on Delhi that suggested an increased allocation under heads of the Central tax, basic grant and local body performance grant.

Mr Sisodia was seeking Rs11,000 crore for Delhi in the Union Budget 2016-17, he had called for the city’s share in the Central taxes to increase from Rs 325 crore to Rs 5,000 crore, apart from Rs 4,000 crore for public transport improvement and Rs 2,000 crore for the local bodies.