The Arvind Kejriwal Government has started a process to identify constituencies where people would be directly involved in preparing the Budget of their respective areas. According to sources, 11 such constituencies have been identified. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised during his speech in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections that his government was determined to involve people of each constituency in drafting the Budget for the city.
This is for the first time that any Government is involving people in preparing budget of their respective areas. Earlier, erstwhile Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had tried to involve Residents’ Welfare Association in the development but not in preparing budget of their areas. The Government will convene first such meeting in deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s Patparganj constituency on Saturday. The constituencies selected for involving people in the Budget are Patparganj, Kirari, Burari, Shahdara, New Delhi, Shalimarbagh, Karawal Nagar, Jangpura, Bawana, Tilak Nagar, New Delhi, Dwarka and Okhla.
Once the residents of these constituencies take a call on their projects, the same will become part of the State Budget, which is expected to be presented by July end in the State Assembly. This will be the first occasion when the State Government would be allocating funds for projects on the basis of the demand of the local residents. The concept of involving people in the Budget making process has drawn its inspiration from the AAP’s proposed Swaraj Bill, which the party has promised to introduce in the Assembly.
A highly placed source said the government intends to form 40 mohalla sabhas in each constituency to decide upon their budgetary allocations for their local projects.
Each mohalla committee is likely to have powers to get works in their areas done up to an amount of about Rs 50 lakh. Also, the committees will be given powers to decide upon the cost of each project. These committees will also be empowered to decide upon the contractors for each of their projects.
The source said the government has instructed the local officers from different departments to be present in each committee meeting. It is reliably learnt that Kejriwal has directed the district magistrates to submit reports about the mohalla committees in their respective areas.