Bold & innovative: CM

New Delhi: Describing his government's budget as innovative and bold, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said it aimed to solve the twin problems of price rise and unemployment.

Addressing a press conference after the budget presentation, Kejriwal said, "Our first budget in 2014-15 was Rs 31,000 crore. Today, the budget is Rs 76,000 crore, around two-and-a-half times higher. This was possible because ours is a die-hard, honest government."

He said the budget is bold and innovative and aims to create 20 lakh jobs in five years.

"Our government has presented a holistic plan to generate 20 lakh employment opportunities in five years. It takes immense courage to take a resolve to generate 20 lakh jobs and this is no election promise," he said.

Noting that the common public faces two main obstacles — employment and inflation — he said that the Delhi Budget 2022-23 predominantly solves the twin issues.

"I highly doubt that a mechanism to generate employment on such a large scale with creative and innovative solutions as the Delhi Budget presents has ever been attempted before by any government in the past. In the last seven years, the Delhi Government has ensured around 12 lakh job opportunities for the youth of Delhi. Out of these, 1,78,000 jobs were created in the government sector, while around 10 lakh in the private sector.

"Today the Budget was presented in the Vidhan Sabha, and within that a blueprint outlining the generation of 20 lakh jobs in the next 5 years

was introduced. It is an extremely bold and innovative budget," he said.