On Monday, the Delhi government was asked to resubmit the Delhi budget by the Union Home Minister. They wanted the Delhi government to address the concerns raised regarding the fiscal interest of the budget.
But the reply from the government has been awaited for the last 4 days. The ministry has directed the Delhi government to reply immediately.
The Central government and the state government in Delhi have always been at loggerheads on various issues. They have again been in a tussle after the home ministry stalled the government’s budget. The budget was scheduled for presentation in the Delhi assembly on Tuesday.
But the home ministry has declined these allegations and has rather explained that they only need clarification on certain issues like the budget allocation has been focused more on advertisement instead of the infrastructure sector.
Delhi Budget according to Finance Minister Kailash
“MHA is lying.” Delhi’s Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot has given an answer to all these allegations. According to him, Delhi total budget is 78800 crores. 22000 has been set assigned for infrastructure and only 550 crores have been assigned for advertisements.
He has clarified that Delhi budget for advertisement is the same as the previous year and there should not be any issues. He has further bashed the central government by claiming that they are trying to harass people and stop them from functioning. He questioned the purpose of having a CM, cabinet, and ministers if they can’t even pass our Delhi budget.
Meanwhile, a letter was written by Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi to the prime minister of India. In the letter, he has requested him not to stall the Delhi budget. In 75 years, the budget of a state has never been stopped.
Furthermore, he also sent a letter to the Home Ministry to get the approval of President Droupadi Murmu. This was sent on the 17th of March and the budget was scheduled to be presented on the 21st of March.
But the LG office has confirmed that the file needs to be sent back to the Chief Minister which has not been done yet. Once the MHA approves the budget, it was to be presented in the Delhi assembly.
On 21st March, the response from the Delhi Government have been received. They have answered all the
queries and concerns raised by the MHA. This has helped them receive approval from the Home Ministry. Furthermore, they have conveyed the approval to the Delhi government.
Kailash Gahlot clarified on Tuesday that the budget file has been resent, even though there has been a disruption between the AAP and the center over the issue. The explanation about the expenditure on advertisements has also been clarified.
But earlier, during the Delhi assembly, there was a lot of drama where the BJP accused the finance minister that he has leaked the Delhi budget information.
BJP MLA Vijender Gupta got into a heated argument with Ram Niwas Goel, the speaker of the assembly. They have also demanded that he should resign from his position as soon as possible.
MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj expressed his concerns saying that they sat on it for three days. He also claimed that this is a conspiracy that should be investigated as the center is behind it.
But after a lot of negotiations and letters, the home ministry finally approved the budget once they cleared out their concerns.
