Delhi's Outcome Budget to focus on accountability, fund utilisation

Eyeing the municipal corporations polls in the capital scheduled for next month, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government presented a Rs 48,000-crore budget on Wednesday. The state government, which had been reluctant in giving money to corporations, has earmarked a record Rs 7,571 crore this time. This is about 15 per cent of the total allocation. The reluctance earlier had led to garbage lying uncollected across the city.

The Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister allocated Rs 11,300 crore for education, about 24 per cent of the total Budget to education. Last year's allocation was Rs 10,690 crore.

He also attacked the Centre, stating that demonetization has hit the capital's economic growth and "forced" them to cut spending on various developmental projects. Severely critical of demonetization , he said that the cash crunch has led to an "economic scarcity" and flight of labourers, who were the "worst-hit."

"At Rs 16,500 crore, the revised plan outlay is around Rs 4,100 crore less than the 2016-17 Budget estimate of Rs 20,600 crore," he said. The minister also said that the economy cannot be run by tossing coins, and one need to do brainstorming for that. "The note ban was one such measure. Labourers were the worst hit and I have come across instances where a few have committed suicides," he said.

But he supported the central government's commitment to reduce air fair by reducing value-added tax on Air Turbine Fuel (ATF). "To boost air operators who have opted to operate under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (Udan) and ply on those routes (involving Delhi) between an identified pair of origin and destination airports/helipads within India pursuant to the scheme satisfying the prescribed conditions, it is proposed to reduce the VAT rate to 1 per cent from the existing 25 per cent on their purchases of ATF in Delhi," he said.

His major thrust was on improving health, water distribution, transport, health and education and infrastructure. He also said that he has made Budget an "Outcome Budget" to inject openness and accountability in public spending. The Outcome Budget will serve as a contract between residents and the government. "Delhi will become the first state in India to adopt this budgeting," he said.

Sisodia said that Outcome Budget will not only focus on accountability vis-a-vis utilisation of allotted funds but also monitor how many people benefited from the government's decisions. The Outcome Budget comprises scheme- or project-wise outlays for all departments and these will be listed as measurable outcomes.

Both the Congress and BJP criticised the Budget. Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said that the much publicized Outcome Budget of the Kejriwal government has turned out to be damp. "Even the quorum could not be completed for 10 minutes. Only 25 out of 67 AAP MLAs were present when the Deputy CM began his speech," he said.

Gupta said that the Delhi government has failed on both financial and implementation fronts. "It had earmarked an allocation of Rs 20,600 crore under the Plan Head during the current financial year. But it has been reduced to Rs 16,500 crore, reflecting a short expenditure of Rs 4,100 crore. It means that the government has failed to implement the schemes worth this much amount. The reduction is more than 25 per cent of its allocation," he said.

Congress Chief Spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said that the government had failed to spend 20 per cent of the estimated plan expenditure showing its lack of interest in development. She said that according to the Economic Survey, Delhi's economic growth has slowed down for the first time in 5 years from 8.82 per cent in 2015-16 to 8.26 per cent in 2016-17.

Mukherjee said that the AAP government takes pride in allegedly doing 'great' work in the field of Health and Education. But in this Budget, the government has stated that 10,000 new beds will be added. However, going by its dismal previous records, its seems this is a hollow claim.