According to sources, health and transport sectors will see a hike, while education is likely to maintain around 25 per cent of the budgetary allocations.
The state is also expected to rationalise the Value Added Tax (VAT) structure in the city, wherein the tax rate will come down but tax net would be widened. Sources in the government said VAT on garments and shoes would be standardised as there are varying taxes on some items, which cause confusion and affect compliance.
Sisodia, who holds the education and finance portfolios, is likely to allocate 25 per cent of the total Budget to education by focusing on training programmes and physical infrastructure.
In the 2015-16 Budget, the state had allocated Rs 9,836 crore to the education sector, of which Rs 4,570 crore was given under the plan outlay, an increase of around 106 per cent. The Arvind Kejriwal government is also expected to shell out more on public transport as it has decided to buy 1,000 air-conditioned buses.
The House will sit only for five days till March 31, the day the Budget is scheduled to be finalised.
The government will provide funds for 3,000 mohalla sabhas, where residents will have a say in deciding civic projects in their respective areas. It is expected that Rs 50 crore will be earmarked for the Aam Aadmi Canteens – modelled after Tamil Nadu’s highly-subsidised Amma canteens – to provide nutritious food to migrant workers living in the national Capital.
The state will not bring any new Bill during this Session as it awaiting the Centre’s nod for 14 Bills passed by the Assembly in the last one year.
“If the Centre does not give a nod to the city government’s Bills at the earliest, there is no benefit of tabling new Bills and sending them for approval,” Sisodia had said recently.
The Assembly’s Winter Session, the longest in the history of the Delhi Legislature, had seen the introduction and passage of 15 Bills, including the Jan Lokpal and the Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill. Those Bills are pending before the Union Home Ministry.
“I request you to approve the 14 Bills passed by the Delhi Assembly that are stuck in Home Ministry. It would be a big relief to the Delhi government,” Kejriwal appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Holi.
The reason for conflict between the Centre and Delhi government is lack of approvals from the Centre on these Bills, before their introduction in the Assembly.
There are also matters pending in the the Delhi high court and the Supreme Court, which will decide the future of these Bills.