FM presents Rs 36,776 cr Delhi Budget, no new taxes proposed

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented a Rs 36,776 crore (Rs 367.76 billion) Delhi Budget in the Parliament on Friday.

Proposing no new taxes in the Budget for Delhi, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced subsidy of Rs 0.80 to Rs 1.20 per unit to small power consumers as also a slew of measures like low floor buses, sanitation and multi-speciality hospital in Rohini.

The Rs 36,776 crore (Rs 367.76 billion) budget for Delhi was presented in Parliament as the state is currently under the President's rule.

Proposing the Budget for 2014-15, Jaitley said no new tax has been proposed in Delhi and added that more night shelters would be set up in the National Capital Territory area.

A multi-speciality hospital will come up in Rohini and 50 dialysis centres in the different parts of NCT.

Also four new sewage treatment plants have been planned for Delhi. The government has earmarked Rs 260 crore (Rs 2.60 billion) for power subsidy.

Following protest by Congress and opposition members over the Budget proposals, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said issues could be raised during the debate on it.

Jaitley later said he was only proposing the Budget, which would be passed after discussion.  

Please click NEXT for more...

Referring to power tariff hike, Jaitley said it was necessitated due to increase in input costs.

"However, the poor and marginalised should not suffer. I, therefore, propose power subsidy of Rs 260 crore (Rs 2.60 billion) for domestic consumers to provide relief to targeted consumers on account of increase in tariff. The modalities will be worked out by the Government of NCT of Delhi," he said.

Considering the paucity of good health facilities under government sector in South Delhi, he also proposed sanctioning one multi-speciality hospital for South Delhi in the current year.

This will be in addition to the one proposed at Rohini.

The government has also proposed to increase plan outlay under pension to senior citizens from Rs 538 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 600 crore in the current fiscal.

Jaitley said that to solve water supply problems in the capital region, construction of long pending Renuka Dam would be taken up on priority.

In order to provide better transport to the commuters, Jaitley said tenders have been floated for procurement of 1,380 semi-low floor buses for DTC.

"To provide convenience to the commuters, DTC will introduce an automated fare collection system through electronic ticketing machines and card readers.

This system will subsequently be integrated with the fare collection system of Delhi Metro," he said. Of the Rs 36,766 crore total budget estimate, Rs 19,066 crore (Rs 190.66 billion) is non-plan expenditure.

Please click NEXT for more...

To spruce up the educational infrastructure, Rs 2,482 crore (Rs 24.82 billion) was today allocated to the Education sector in the Delhi budget, which is approximately 14.8 per cent of the plan outlay of Rs 16,700 crore (Rs 1670 billion).

Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.50 billion) was earmarked for the construction of 20 new schools in the budget presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament.

"The existing educational infrastructure in the capital requires additional support.

The enrolment in government schools is increasing approximately at the rate of 1 lakh every year and Delhi needs around 500 new schools, as per RTE norms.

"To meet this challenge, in the first phase, construction work of 20 new schools will be started during the current financial year. I propose to allot a sum of Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.50 bi for this purpose," Jaitley said.

In order to enhance the quality of teaching, Delhi government will focus on training of teachers in course content, teaching skills and creating better teaching environment in government schools and training will be imparted to 20318 teachers through State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

A Skill Development Centre is proposed to be set up under PPP mode for which 37 acres of land has been acquired.

Pleace click NEXT for more...

The centre would train approximately 15000 students per years based on the needs of the industry, the Finance Minister said.

The government also pitched in for promoting languagues like Urdu, Punjabi and Sanskirit.

Senior secondary schools exclusively for girls would be opened to promote girls educations and special emphasis would be given on improving sanitary conditions in government schools.

"Delhi is inhibited by a lot of linguistic communities and has four academies of Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Hindi.

It is proposed to take up project based financial support to these academies in the current financial year," he said.

Further, setting up of a new school of Planning, Architecture and Design at a cost of Rs 285 crore in East Delhi by Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University was also proposed.

Government also said that construction of National Institute of Technology, Delhi at Narela for which 51 acres of land has been procured will be expedited.