Ashish Ranjan
Delhi budget gets approval from Home Ministry: Tuesday, Delhi budget gets approval from Home Ministry for 2023-24 and approval was sent to the Delhi government.
This comes a day after the Ministry of Home Affairs requested clarification from the AAP government due to its budget proposal’s high advertising allocation and relatively low financing for infrastructure and other development projects.The response of the Delhi government to questions/concerns raised by the MHA via L-G on 17 March has been received. This paved the way for the budget’s approval.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs has authorised the Delhi Annual Budget for 2023-24. The administration of Delhi has been informed of the approval,” sources told the news agency ANI.
Tuesday, the finance minister of Delhi, Kailash Gahlot, announced that the budget file had been resent to the home ministry for approval, amidst a dispute between the AAP administration and the central government over the issue.
After the Delhi budget was delayed, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the central government of “gundagardi.” However, according to sources quoted by India Today, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has requested an explanation regarding advertising expenditures.
According to sources, the AAP administration has allocated relatively more funds for advertising and promotion than for infrastructure development. The allegations were refuted by the government led by Arvind Kejriwal, which stated that the total budget was Rs 78,800 billion, of which Rs 22,000 billion was designated for infrastructure spending and Rs 550 billion for advertising.
Earlier in the day, a heated debate between speaker Ram Niwas Goel and BJP MLA Vijender Gupta over the issue caused high drama in the Delhi Assembly. The pandemonium broke out when the speaker asked the opposition MLAs to calm down so that Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot could deliver his speech.
The BJP alleged that Delhi Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot divulged budget allocations to the media. They have requested Gahlot’s resignation for “breach of privilege.”
While the AAP claimed that the Centre conspired to stall Delhi’s budget, the BJP attacked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, accusing him of stirring up a controversy over the city government’s budget for “cheap publicity” and to cover up his own errors.
In a letter sent to the chief secretary on March 17, the MHA expressed some concerns about the Delhi government’s budget and refused to grant its sanction, according to AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj.”He contemplated it for three days. This surpasses any anti-national activities. This needs investigation. “The Centre is behind this plot, and it is delaying the budget at its behest,” he claimed.
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Tuesday’s presentation of the Delhi budget to the assembly requires prior approval from the Centre. In a letter to Prime Minister Modi, the chief minister noted that this was the first time in 75 years that a state’s budget had been suspended.
