Dedicating a major chunk of the Budget 2017-18 to the education, health and transport sector, the Delhi Government for the third time presented a “tax-free” Budget on Wednesday.
The Delhi Government, in its Rs48,000 crore Budget, allocated Rs11,300 crore for education, Rs5,736 crore for health, and Rs5,506 crore for transport.
The Government has allocated 24 per cent of the total Budget estimates to the education in Delhi. While presenting the Budget, Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia announced that to help building a stronger connection between Delhi and small States like the North-east under Regional Connectivity Scheme, the Government proposed to reduce the VAT to 1 per cent from existing 25 per cent on the Civil Aviation Operators for their purchase of Air Tribunal Fuel (ATF) in Delhi.
“The education sector continues to be the highest priority of our Government…out of the total expenditure of Rs11,300, Rs10,186 crore is the revenue Budget while Rs1,114 crore is the Capital Budget,” said Sisodia.
Calling it a unique initiative, the AAP Government has brought a comprehensive “outcome Budget” where the Government besides utilising the funds in any project would also monitor “how many people benefitted after the completion of any project.”
Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister said that nursery classes will start in 156 Government schools with upgraded infrastructure.
“Government has planned to provide better pre-school learning facilities. As a pilot, we have assigned the task to run 10 Centres for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED) to Ambedkar University which has been allocated Rs 4 crore for undertaking research and capacity building for this task,” the Deputy Chief Minister added.
Saying that it is a “people friendly” Budget, Sisodia said they (Government) thought like a “common man” while preparing the Budget to “effectively utilise the hard earned money of the denizens of Delhi.”
In the Mid- Day Meal scheme, the Government plans to expand it to all class till XII of girls and has decided to supplement to the existing nutrition content by providing banana and boiled egg to each students.
“An amount of Rs17 crores has been earmarked for the purpose of setting up libraries within the classroom for students of nursery to V with attractive fiction books. “
While stating that the health is “next priority” after education to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Government, Sisodia stressed that they (government) is working to establish three-tier healthcare system.
“First tier is the Mohalla clinics where a common man can get treatment from qualified doctors, second tier is the PolyClinics where specialists will be available for all disease and the third tier is the hospitals and total number of beds in all hospitals of Delhi Government in 10,000 and the work is under progress to increase the number of beds to 20,000,” he added.
While 110 such Mohalla Clinics are already functional in Delhi, the Government said that it will increase to 150 by the end of current financial year. “Our aim is to set up 1,000 Mohalla Clinics in the next financial year. 23 such Polyclinics are already working and their number will increase to 150 by the end of next financial year.”
He added that the Government had instead reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) on various commodities like timber, marble and granite from 12.5 per cent to five per cent.
The Government also said that an outlay of Rs 20 crore has been proposed for the scheme under which it plans to issue health cards to provide health insurance to all citizens of Delhi.
“Good Samaritans shall be given a cash award of Rs 2,000 if they come to help road accident victim to pharmacies of five Delhi Government hospitals will be outsourced and a free generic pharmacy - Jan Aushadhi will be established outside Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. Government has already allowed free MRI and scans for citizens availing health care from our hospitals. An outlay of Rs 15 crores is proposed for these facilities in the next year,” Sisodia added.
In further boosting the health care of the city, the Delhi Government in partnership with 41 private sector hospitals having NABH accredition will deliver treatment in 30 critical and life saving surgeries.
The Government did not include the wifi connectivity issue in its present Budget as the Minister said that there were projects going on in this area.
The Government in its scheme of free line water for giving 20 kilo litres per month to each family across the national Capital and sanitation has proposed Rs 210-8 crores for Water Supply and Sanitation for the next financial year.
Sisodia also brought up the national issue of demonetisation saying that it affected Delhi badly. The AAP is now looking up for the upcoming Municipal Council elections in the city. While the work of the Government has been majorly people-centric, the party chief and Chief Minsiter Arvind Kejriwal has claimed to make “Delhi like london” if they get the mandate in the MCD elections.
Hailing the Budget as poor-friendly, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Government was accomplishing a lot without raising tax rates.
Money is being saved because we are working honestly... Under this outcome-oriented Budget, there will be accountability of every single penny that is spent,” the AAP leader said.
Kejriwal said the Government had allocated significantly more money to civic bodies this time so that they could put their house in order.
Asked if the Budget was framed with the municipal elections in mind, Kejriwal said, “We are working towards public welfare and trying to fulfil our promises. If we ask for votes based on that, what’s wrong with itIJ”