Delhi gets Rs 1,143 crore in budgetary allocation

New Delhi: The Delhi government was on Thursday allotted Rs 1,143 crore in the Union Budget for 2013-14, an increase of Rs 44 crore compared to last year's provision of Rs 1,099 crore. Out of total allocation, the city government has been given Rs 700 crore under JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) for infrastructure projects and housing for the urban poor while an outlay of Rs 309.92 crore has been made as normal assistance.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram did not substantially hike the normal central assistance, a request for which was made by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Facing Assembly polls in November, Dikshit had made a strong pitch for increasing the central allocation to take up new projects in the city, saying it has been stagnant at around Rs 300 crore per annum for the last 10 years.

In the Budget, Delhi has been given Rs 1077.31 crore under head of assistance for Union Territory governments and another allocation of Rs 68.39 crore has been made under the provision of Union Road Transport Ministry separately, taking the total to Rs 1143.70 crore.

Though Delhi was given Rs 1,031.61 crore for 2012-13, it could spend only Rs 831.61 crore which was reflected in the revised estimate. In 2012-13 also, Rs 68 crore had been earmarked for the city government under head of the Union Road Transport Ministry. Out of the total allocation under JNNURM projects, Rs 470 crore is for urban infrastructure projects while Rs 150 crore has been allocated for providing basic services to urban poor.

Rs 80 crore was granted for construction of houses under Rajiv Awaas Yojna. A separate allocation of Rs 54.59 crore has been made for Delhi under National Social Assistance Programme. A separate fund of Rs 10 crore has been given under Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojna. Delhi was granted Rs 700 crore under JNNURM for 2012-13 out of which Rs 200 crore remained unspent.

Dikshit, in a statement, said the grants under JNNURM would enable the city government to go for new projects. She said allocation under Rajiv Awas Yojana has witnessed a substantial hike as it has "gone up" from Rs 5 crore to Rs 80 crore. She said, "That allocation under Urban Infrastructure and Governance under JNNURM has increased from Rs 350 crore to Rs 470 crore."