A fine balance b/w prioritising health, edu & capital projs

New Delhi: As the Delhi Secretariat begins to get busy with preparing the finer details of the upcoming state government Budget, multiple senior officials close to the process have said the focus is on maintaining a fine balance between sufficiently prioritising health and education spending and spending for select capital projects — all the while ensuring that the top 10 items on "Kejriwal ka Guarantee Card".

The sectors under focus include electricity, water supply, education, health, transport, pollution, garbage, safety, unauthorised colonies, and 'Pucca houses'.

"For the last one year, the Delhi government has suffered a huge economic burden in dealing with the Covid pandemic. The revenue is still going down by 42 per cent. In such a situation, preparing the budget this time for the Kejriwal government is indeed a big challenge," the senior official said.

"Even if we look at the revenue of February-March, the financial situation will not get better. But whatever benefits the people of Delhi are getting, including electricity, water, free bus travel for women, those plans will continue. However, this time there is little hope of new big announcements in the budget. The steps being taken to fulfill the guarantees that the government has placed in front of the people of Delhi will accelerate," he added.

"We will plant more than 2 crore trees to make Delhi green," the guarantee card had stated along with the emphasis on good quality education for each child, the official said. The guarantee card also stated that the AAP-led government would provide the "biggest and cheapest" transport facility for the city along with the Delhi metro to have more than 500-kilometres stretch.

"Delhi will also have its own board of education in the new session and it was announced by the government during the last budget. Also, new buses are coming this year in the transport sector. By September, DTC will have 1,000 buses and a supply order for 300 electric buses will be released soon. In such a situation, the budget will be monitored for this sector too," the senior official said.

Several big schemes will be implemented by the end of 2021 with 'Doorstep delivery of ration' kicking off from March. "Delhi's 2020-21 budget was Rs 65,000 crore. The Kejriwal government has increased the budget every time. The government is spending around 25 per cent on education," the senior official said.

By launching the health card scheme which Delhiites will be able to access by the end of the year the Kejriwal-led government has been focusing on its promises made ahead of the polls, the above-mentioned official said.

Even though the garbage management is with the MCD, the CM had said that it would make the city garbage-free in the next tenure.

"By launching the 'Mohalla Marshals' the government has already started the process of fulfilling the promise of a safer city for the women. Jahan Jhuggie Wahin Makan is another promise that the government has been working and we have been asked to treat it with priority in the budget too," the senior official added.