Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will table the Delhi Budget 2016-17 on Monday where education, along with health and transport is likely to get major allocation.
After its failure to meet even the scaled down target of Rs21,000 crore through VAT, the AAP Government might put five per cent VAT on plastic waste, textile and fabrics and readymade garments costing above Rs2,000. There are indications that the Government might also increase VAT on UPS from 5 to 12.5 per cent and 20 to 25 per cent on liquor. The Delhi Government is likely to move some items of common use currently attracting 12.5 per cent VAT to the 5 per cent category. Such items at present include meals in restaurants, marble tiles and bathroom fittings for homes. There is also possibility to bring CNG into tax net and impose five per cent VAT on it. Currently, CNG is exempted from VAT in Delhi.
In the Budget, VAT on garments and shoes will be standardised as there are varying taxes on some items which often cause confusion and affect compliance. Delhi’s VAT collections in the current fiscal have crossed Rs20,000 crore, just short of the revised target of Rs21,000 crore and much higher than last year’s collection of Rs18,500 crore. Sisodia, who holds the finance portfolio, is likely to allocate 25 per cent of the total Budget allocation to education sector by focusing on training programmes and physical infrastructure.
In the 2015-16 Budget, the Government had allocated Rs9,836 crore for the education sector out of which Rs4,570 crore was given under the plan outlay, which was an increase of around 106 per cent. The Government is also expected to shell out more on public transport as it has decided to buy 1,000 new air-conditioned buses. The House will sit only for five days till March 31.
The Government will provide funds for 3,000 mohalla sabhas where locals will have a say in deciding civic projects in their areas.
The Government is expected to set aside Rs50 crore for the Aam Aadmi Canteens, modelled after Tamil Nadu’s highly-subsidised Amma canteens, to provide nutritious food to migrant workers in the national Capital.
The city Government will not bring any new Bill during the Budget Session as it awaiting Centre’s nod for 14 Bills passed by the Delhi Assembly in last one year. “If the Centre does not give nod to the city Government’s Bills at the earliest, there is no benefit of tabling new Bills and sending them to it for approval,” Sisodia had said recently. The Winter Session of the Assembly, which was the longest in the history of Delhi legislature, had seen the introduction and passage of 15 Bills, including the Janlokpal and Delhi School Education Amendment Bill.