'21% of Delhi Budget allocation for health, education yet unspent'

NEW DELHI: Nearly 21 per cent of the money allocated under the Budget for education and health expenditure is still unspent, due to the tussle between the Lieutenant Governor, the elected government and the Municipal Corporations, recent data has claimed.

The report, prepared by IndiaSpend, analysed the Budget data of Delhi government.

The report noted, "On education, the utilisation rate was 62 per cent in 2014-15 and 57 per cent in 2015-16, but picked up the pace to 79 per cent in 2016-17. On health, the utilisation rate ranged between 83 per cent and 79 per cent. Under the previous Congress government, the average utilisation rates were 100.5 per cent and 79.6 per cent in the education and health sectors, respectively.

"Part of the under-utilisation of the budget may be attributed to the overlapping jurisdictions of the Centre, the state and the three municipal corporations."

The Budget allocations in the government happen on the basis of visions of the plans and the making of the schemes or the plans come next.

In the case of the AAP government, whenever it tried to implement the schemes, it needed an approval from the LG, as administrative issues in the National Capital Territory come under the jurisdiction of the Union Home Ministry, represented by the LG.

Since coming to power, AAP has always had a bitter relationship with the Delhi LG, first Najeeb Jung and now his successor.

The Delhi government's ambitious project to install 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras along streets and in markets was scheduled to have been rolled out belatedly in March. Under the project, each constituency is to get at least 2,000 cameras, which will be put up in consultation with RWAs and market associations.

However, later in March, the LG formed a committee of his own to review implementation of the project, which was slammed by the AAP government. Eventually, the project was stalled.

The IndiaSpend report noted, "The 2015 manifesto of AAP focused on three issues: Education, health and infrastructure. The Budget presented on June 25, 2015, for the year 2015-16, allocated 26 per cent and 9.5 per cent to education and health, respectively – one of the highest allocations for the education sector by any state in India."

However, the analysis also noted that the previous Congress government in Delhi, led by Sheila Dikshit, had an average utilisation of 98 percent between 2008 and 2013.