leader of Opposition (lOP) in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta said that the Delhi Government should prepare realistic Budget estimates for the year 2017-18 to avoid underutilisation as well as non-utilisation of funds. It must also avoid supplementary provisions.
Gupta said that during 2014-15 the fiscal deficit was Rs5,439 crore and it went up to Rs7,074 crore during 2015-16 and it is likely to be Rs7,200 crore during 2016-17.
“The promise of AAP Government to implement a comprehensive outcome Budget for the current financial year may theoretically sound attractive but the past experience has shown that the Government throws rosy ideas without seriously implementing them,” he said further.
For instance, the emphasis of the Government in the Budget speech of 2015-16 was on the new initiate “Swaraj Fund” envisioned for enabling citizens in selection and implementation of programme prioritised by them for the development of the area.
A Budget provision of Rs253 crores was earmarked for this. The scheme was to be implemented through Mohalla Sabhas. But it is surprising that these Sabhas have not come to existence till date.
Gupta also asked the Government to come out with actionable plan which could be realistically implemented and not to make false promises which it would not be able to fulfill. Realism, he said, is better than rosy picture.