NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Thursday presented a Rs 53,000 crore Budget for 2018-19 fiscal, stressing on the environment, health and education sectors, while making a slew of announcements, including a major thrust on “green” initiatives for pollution reduction and launching “health insurance for all” scheme.
The government also announced installation of CCTV cameras in schools, providing self-defence training for girl students, allocating Rs 100 crore for free Wi-Fi and installation of 1.2 lakh CCTV cameras in the city by June next year.
It also promised implementation of doorstep delivery of government services by June 15, and Rs 1,500 crore for infrastructure development in unauthorised colonies.
This is the first “Green Budget” of the government for effective containment of pollution in the city, the deputy chief minister said in the Budget Session of the Assembly in the presence of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The chief minister congratulated Mr Sisodia for presenting a “splendid Budget”. “In the Budget, the 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,” Mr Kejriwal said.
Mr Sisodia, who is also holds the finance portfolio, said the Budget follows “trickle up” economics aiming to benefit 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 for over one-and-a-half hour.
“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,” Mr Sisodia said.
An allocation of Rs 6,729 crore, which is 12 per cent of the Budget, has been made for the health sector, and the launch of a “health insurance for all” scheme was announced in the Budget.
