Rejecting the claims of Delhi ministers that the Central government has not given anything to Delhi by way of the Union Budget, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the budget has something for everyone. He called it a job-creating budget.
Addressing a joint press conference along with newly elected BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal on Wednesday, he said Delhi’s ministers have always been making false claims that the Central government does not give anything to the national capital.
In the past 11 years, the Centre has spent more than Rs 5.5 lakh crore on Delhi’s development projects, and administrative expenses, which might be more than the total budget of the Delhi government during this period, Sachdeva said.
Delhi BJP media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor, who orgnaised the press conference, said while the country has a development-oriented dynamic government, Delhi has a stagnant and grumbling government.
He alleged that the Kejriwal Government’s complaints are part of propaganda of which the people of Delhi are well aware.
Virendra Sachdeva said that the Delhi government has been granted Rs 1,168 crore as special assistance in addition to Rs. 11177.5 crore for the Delhi Police, Rs 4,801.35 crore towards payment of pensions, and more than Rs. 30,000 crore for various Central schemes.
He criticised the state government for allegedly making false promises of eliminating the mountains of garbage by 2023 and added that the Centre has allocated Rs 1,145 crore from the budget for the MCD to address this issue.
The Delhi BJP chief highlighted that the Central government has spent Rs 53,000 crore on the Delhi Metro, which transports 63 lakh people daily, compared to 25 lakh people who travel by DTC daily.
He stated that to make Delhi traffic-free, the Central government has spent Rs 30,000 crore on the Transport Department, and an additional Rs. 35,000 crore is in the working process.
Sachdeva said despite all the expenditures met by the Centre for Delhi, Delhi Minister Atishi continues to spread lies.
He pointed out that the Central government has made significant investments in housing in the Delhi-NCR, but the benefits of the PM Housing Scheme are not reaching the poor of Delhi as the Kejriwal Government has not implemented the scheme.
Sachdeva accused the Delhi government of not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme for the poor, neither Atishi nor any of her ministerial colleagues have addressed this.
Praveen Khandelwal, speaking on the occasion, dismissed Atishi’s claim that Delhi received nothing from the budget, saying it would fully benefit the people of Delhi. He also criticised the Kejriwal Government for not implementing Central schemes in Delhi depriving women and youth of their benefits.
He said the budget provides several benefits for women, including the establishment of working women’s hostels and market access facilities for self-employed women, and the same will be a boon for working women in Delhi.