New Delhi: Ahead of the municipal polls in the national capital, the Delhi Assembly’s Budget session, starting Monday, is going to be a crucial one. The five-day Budget session will be an occasion for the AAP to shore up its pro-poor credentials ahead of the municipal polls.
The session will also see a first in the form of an “outcome Budget”, where the government will put out the expected outcome of expenditure under specific heads.
It will begin with the address of L-G Anil Baijal, his first after assuming office last December. The Opposition BJP has also geared itself up to corner the government over its “unfulfi-lled promises”. It has accus-ed the government of “building castles in the air”.
Like last year, education and health sectors are likely to take big chunk of the Budget with around 25 per cent of the total allocation likely to be set aside for education. Amid criticism from the Opposition, the AAP has opted to go ahead with a full-fledged Budget for the coming fiscal. The erstwhile Congress government had chosen to come up with vote-on-account instead of a full-fledged Budget ahead of the MCD elections in 2007 and 2012.
The AAP has, however, batted in favour of the full-fledged Budget ahead of the crucial municipal pools where it is making its debut saying that it will be passed before the model code of conduct is imposed. The Aam Aadmi Party was one of the most vocal critics of the decision of the Central government to go ahead with the Budget on Febru-ary 1. The dates for the civic polls due next month are likely to be announced by the mid of this month.
Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijendar Gupta has termed the decision “politically motivated”. “The government has failed on all fronts over the past two years. Now that the municipal elections are round the corner, they want to make some populist announcements in the Budget,” Mr Gupta had said.
The AAP government on its side has left no stone unturned to make this Budget a unique one and “people centric”. The government will present its first ever “outcome” Budget next week, where the allocations to each department will be accompanied with goals and how they will benefit the common man or whom they are aimed at.
In a review meeting of heads of departments, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, said: “A traditional Budget emphasises only financial outlays and spending on various activities but stops short of promising outcomes that citizens eventually care about. This outcome Budget will constitute a contract between the Delhi government and, therefore, each department official, and the people of Delhi.”
Officials said that while the AAP government was able to open over 100-odd mohalla clinics and about 8,000 rooms in the government-run schools, it was not able to meet its tax targets in various sectors. The government had first estimated to raise about Rs 24,000 crore through VAT collection. Later, it revised the collection target to Rs 22,000 crore, though it has been able to raise only about Rs 17,700 through VAT till January.
Sources said that various departments have returned the unutilised funds — to the finance department — allocated to them. The urban development department, which was to spend Rs 200 crore for installation of CCTV cameras, has returned the money. Even the PWD, which was to spend about Rs 100 crore on repair and maintenance of roads, has returned the funds. About Rs 350crore earmarked for carrying out works through mohalla sabhas has been returned.
Asked why the mohalla sabhas were unable to spe-nd money on the development works of their respective areas, a senior bureaucrat said: “These sabhas can utilise the funds only after Parliament amends some sections of the existing Delhi Municipal Act.” “One can not utilise even a single paise unless it is clearly defined in the Act under which head it can be utilised.”
