Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to treat Delhi at par with the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with regards to providing share from Central taxes and assistance to Union Territories, and the Disaster Response Fund.
During the pre-Budget meeting with the Finance Ministers of all states, and the Union Territories with the Union Finance Minister for the Budget of 2021-22, Sisodia pointed out that the share in capital taxes for Delhi has remained stagnant at Rs 325 crore for two decades now, since 2001-02.
NCT of Delhi, by virtue of being a UT through legislature, is not included in the ToR of Central Finance Commission, and therefore gets an ad-hoc grant in lieu of its share in the central taxes capped at Rs 325 crore.
“Being the capital of the country, and one the fastest growing metropolises, the Delhi Govt. needs to maintain an infrastructure that meets the world standard. We want to improve the supply of civic amenities to meet the demands of the burgeoning population that expects a quality standard of living to lead a wholesome life in the capital. Moreover, the Delhi government needs funds to make huge investments in crucial departments like education, health, social, food securities, transports, roads and hospitals among others,” Sisodia said.
The Delhi Finance Minister appealed to the Union Finance Minister that Delhi deserves its legitimate share in central taxes to finance the developmental needs of the city, and accordingly requires enhanced allocation of at least Rs 8,150 crore in RE 2020-21, and Rs 8,555 crore in BE 2021-22.
During the pre-budget meeting, Sisodia also pointed out that Delhi has five urban local bodies, of which three are major municipal corporations with a population between 39-62 lakh. As the powers, and functions of the municipalities in Delhi are the same as that of the local bodies in the other states, omitting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in receiving its basic performance grants on technical grounds does not help the constitutional mandate of strengthening the city’s local bodies.
Sisodia said that the three municipal corporations of Delhi are under extreme financial crunch, and merit the same consideration from the Central Government in receiving proper financial assistance as do other states. Delhi had to also devolve funds to the local bodies at 12.5% of its net tax proceeds on the basis of recommendations of the Delhi Finance Commission. The Fourteenth Finance Commission allocated Grant-in-Aid of Rs 2,87,436 crore for the local bodies for the award period 2015-20 which works out to be Rs 488 per capita per annum.
Sisodia said that Delhi with a population of approx. 193.86 lakh people should at least be provided Rs 1,150 crore, along with an appropriate annual enhancement grant to the Delhi Govt. for its local bodies. Considering the dire financial situation of the MCDs, Sisodia also requested a one-time grant of Rs 12,000 crore which is the legitimate share of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi over the last 10 years.
Sisodia also drew the attention of the Union Finance Minister to receiving financial assistance from the Central Govt. In 2000-01, Delhi received Rs 370 crore as central assistance but has only been provided with Rs 626 crore in 2020-21.
The normal central assistance which was 5.14% of the total expenditure in 2000-01 has declined to 0.96% in 2020-21 (BE). However, in the current financial year, the Delhi Govt. has been incurring expenditure on various COVID-19 related emergencies, and necessary activities like providing food, dry ration, shelter, isolation home facilities, drugs & supplies etc. which is still being carried out in the view of the ongoing pandemic.
Sisodia urged the Government of India to treat Delhi at par with the rest of the country in providing Disaster Response Fund. The Centre released Rs 11,092 crore to all the state governments towards Disaster Response Fund in April 2020, but Delhi did not receive any such support.