Delhi Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot on Wednesday presented a Rs 78,800-crore budget, giving a major push to transport and infrastructure with an allocation of Rs 21,817 crore ahead of the G20 Summit, and announced a comprehensive plan to make the capital a ‘clean, beautiful and modern city’.

IMAGE: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot arrive for the presentation of Delhi Budget for the financial year 2023-24, at Delhi Legislative Assembly, on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the budget has something for everyone and free schemes like bus ride for women, power subsidy and pilgrimage for senior citizens will continue in the next financial year as well.

However, the education and health sectors, two highest priority areas of the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation, have not seen a major hike.

The government has proposed Rs 9,742 crore for the health sector, a marginal decline, while in the last budget, it was Rs 9,769 crore.

The education department has been given Rs 16,575 crore. In the 2022-23 budget, it had the highest allocation of Rs 16,278 crore.

An outlay of Rs 9,337 crore in the transport sector has been proposed for the next financial year.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party dismissed the budget as ‘directionless’ and alleged that it is a bundle of lies and has only paper announcements.

In his 150-minute speech in the Delhi assembly, Gahlot said a comprehensive infrastructure rejuvenation project was being launched in a very significant year when Delhi will be hosting India’s first G20 summit.

The comprehensive plan includes beautification of 1,400-km roads maintained by PWD, construction of 26 flyovers and three double-decker flyovers, induction of 1,600 electric buses and electrification of all bus depots.

Also, the government has proposed to construct three world-class inter-state bus terminals, two multi-level bus depots, two modern bus terminals and nine new bus depots. As many as 1,400 new and modern bus queue shelters will also be built in the national capital.

Six-point action plan for a clean Yamuna and clearing all three garbage mountains of Delhi are also among the major schemes announced by the AAP government on Wednesday.

In the 2023-24 Budget, the government has set aside Rs 2,034 crore for the beautification and upgrade of PWD roads.

Gahlot announced that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will be given Rs 8,241 crore in the financial year 2023-24, up from Rs 4,374 crore allocated during 2022-23.

He also said a loan of Rs 850 crore was earmarked for the civic body for the removal of mountains of garbage.

The government announced that it will set up 100 mohalla clinics. The number of free diagnostic tests in mohalla clinics will increase from 256 to 450 in the next financial year.

The Delhi government’s budget size for the financial year 2022-23 was Rs 75,800 crore and Rs 69,000 crore in the preceding year.

The 2023-24 budget is almost two and a half times the expenditure of Rs 30,940 crore in the year 2014-15, and 8.69 per cent higher than the revised estimates for 2022-23.

Addressing a post-budget press conference, Kejriwal that this is because Delhi has an honest government.

“Finally, the budget was presented today. It has something for everyone. We have so far invested heavily in the education, health and electricity sectors and this will continue. This budget focuses on a clean, beautiful and modern Delhi,” he said.

“We have achieved so much despite so many hurdles. This shows our excellent administrative skills. Delhi would have seen much more progress had it got full statehood,” the chief minister said.

The presentation of the budget was delayed by a day as the Centre sought clarifications, including ‘higher allocation’ for advertisements and ‘lower capital expenditure’ in the annual financial statement.

On Tuesday, the Union home ministry gave its approval to the budget even as Kejriwal alleged that the whole issue was created by the Centre to satisfy its ego.

The budget estimate of Rs 78,800 crore includes Rs 56,983 crore under revenue expenditure and an outlay of Rs 21,817 crore under capital expenditure.

Gahlot said the share of capital expenditure as part of the overall budget has also risen to 27.68 per cent in the budget.

The AAP government has earmarked Rs 557.2 crore for advertisements in the next financial year.

It has proposed Rs 320 crore for the construction of three double-decker flyovers, which will come up at Bhajanpura-Yamuna Vihar, Azadpur-Rani Jhansi intersections and Saket-Pul Prahaladpur.

Vehicles will run on the lower deck while the Metro rail will run on the upper deck.

“By the end of the year 2023, Delhi will have the largest fleet of electric buses among all the states of India. By the end of 2025, Delhi will have a fleet of 10,480 buses,” the finance minister said.

While announcing the Mohalla bus scheme for ensuring the last mile connectivity in the city, he said 100 feeder e-buses will be procured in 2023-24 while 2,180 in next two years.

All 57 bus depots in Delhi will be electrified by this year, he said, adding that the government will spend around Rs 1,500 crore on this.

The government will also develop a new world-class ISBT at Dwarka.

Talking about allocation for the education sector, Gahlot said the Delhi government will provide new tablets to all teachers, principals and vice-principals, besides setting up new computers in 350 schools.

He said more branches of the Ambedkar Schools of Specialised Education will come up in 2023. In 2021, there were 20 schools of specialised education, which will be increased to 37 in 2023.

He said that the dream of a clean and beautiful Delhi is incomplete without a clean and beautiful Yamuna.

“In the next year, we will rapidly expand the reach of the sewer network to all the colonies and JJ clusters of Delhi and upgrade the capacities of our sewage treatment plants on a war footing to achieve the vision of clean Yamuna,” he said.

Breaking his silence over the proposed meeting of eight non-Congress, non-BJP chief ministers and a possible third front ahead of the 2024 general elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal said that it is a platform that is being built. The Delhi CM said he has had many rounds of discussions with them. However, it is not a political but a governance platform, he added.

“This is a platform that is being built. Some chief ministers…roughly eight chief ministers and I have had many rounds of discussions with them. This is not a political platform, this is a governance platform,” he said. Kejriwal also said that he was violating the protocol between all the chief ministers as all eight had to hold a press conference jointly and make the announcement.

The seven non-Congress, non-BJP chief ministers who Kejriwal reached out to are Bihar’s Nitish Kumar, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu’s MK Stalin, Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, Telengana’s K Chandrashekar Rao, Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren, and of course Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann. Kejriwal further elaborated that all the eight chief ministers would visit a state and learn from each others’ success stories.

Referring to reports in the media that the meeting was a non-starter, he said, “We have had many rounds of discussion with them, their officers. The letter that was leaked was about finalising the dates. I felt that the date should be frozen. Everyone felt that the 18th and 19th is not suiting anyone as all have assembly sessions. So the suggestion was to keep it after mid-April. He added that it was a “work in progress”, and when finalised, he will inform everyone about who is coming.

The Delhi chief minister was speaking on the sidelines of the budget presentation in the assembly on Wednesday. He referred to his colleague and former deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, who is now in judicial custody as “Delhi’s permanent finance minister” who is being missed, and emphasised on the push for infrastructure in the budget. “With Rs 21,817 crore allocated for infrastructure development…there is a huge, huge, huge push for infra in the budget,” the chief minister said, to build a “clean, beautiful, modern Delhi”.

The CM flanked by finance minister Kailash Gahlot outlined a nine-point action plan that would turn the vision in the budget into reality, which included cleaning and beautifying 1,400 kilometres of roads, building 26 new flyovers, three unique double-decker flyovers, electrification of 57 new bus depots, three new modern bus ports, 1,400 electric buses, 100 new mohalla clinics near Metro stations, sewerage and water connection to every household, 20 new lakes, among others.

The chief minister also argued for higher allocation from the Centre for Delhi. “We give Rs 20,000 crore to the Centre. We don’t get anything. This is injustice. Delhi is like an engine. What will happen if you stop giving fuel to the engine? Delhi earns for the whole country…jo kamai karne walla hai, jo sone ke ande dene walli murgi hai, usko agar chara dena hi band kar doge, toh woh murgi anda kaise degi (if you stop feeding the hen that lays golden eggs, how will it keep doing this)?”

Also sounding the poll bugle for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, AAP has decided to go ahead on its own with a meeting at Jantar Mantar on March 23, Martyrs’ Day, which will be attended by the Delhi chief minister and his Punjab counterpart.

AAP minister and Delhi incharge Gopal Rai said, “Looking at the current situation in the country, tomorrow, at Jantar Mantar through a sabha, AAP will launch a nationwide campaign with the slogan ‘Modi hatao, desh bachao’. AAP MLAs, MPs, workers, our office-bearers will gather. This sabha will remember the sacrifices of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and Rajguru. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann will address the gathering.”

When asked whether the conspicuous absence of any other opposition party is not a dampener, Rai remarked that as the campaign progresses, there will be communication with others.

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The Madras High Court on Wednesday reserved orders on interim applications taken out by expelled AIADMK leaders O. Panneerselvam, P.H. Manoj Pandian, R. Vaithilingam and J.C.D. Prabhakhar to restrain the party from giving effect to the resolutions passed by the general council on July 11, 2022 with regard to their expulsion and other issues.

Justice K. Kumaresh Babu deferred his decision after holding a special sitting on Wednesday, a holiday for the High Court in view of Telugu New Year, to hear marathon arguments advanced by Senior Counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, Vijay Narayan, Guru Krishnakumar, C. Manishankar, Abdul Saleem and A.K. Sriram for about seven hours.

Mr. Panneerselvam was the last to approach the court, challenging the resolutions as well as the consequent election to the post of general secretary. His civil suit and the interim applications were listed for admission only on Wednesday, and Senior Counsel Krishnakumar argued at length, stressing the need for an interim injunction.

Identifying himself as the coordinator and treasurer of the party, Mr. Panneerselvam wanted the court to stay the operation of a special resolution through which he was expelled from the party, and other resolutions on abolishing the posts of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator and reviving the post of general secretary.

The other plaintiffs, too, had made similar prayers. The Senior Counsel argued that Mr. Panneerselvam was a pre-eminent leader who had played a stellar role in the party for decades, and he could not be chucked out without any notice and opportunity of a hearing. “This is an extremely arbitrary, unreasonable and unconscionable decision,” he said.

Noting that he was elected by primary members as coordinator of the party for five years in 2021, the counsel said the plaintiff’s civil right to continue in the post till 2026 had been affected by the resolutions. “The general council does not have the carte blanche to do anything it wants. They can’t do anything just by claiming majority,” he argued.

Mr. Saleem, representing Mr. Pandian, said the court should not look into the counter-affidavit filed by Edappadi K. Palaniswami in his capacity as interim general secretary, “since such post does not exist. When there is no counter, it must be construed that the grounds raised by me have not been refuted, and hence, injunction must be granted”.

Mr. Manishankar, appearing for Mr. Vaithilingam, said the party’s bylaws did not contain any provision to expel the coordinator. If Mr. Palaniswami was not willing to continue in the position of joint coordinator, then the only way out for the party was to appoint some other individual as joint coordinator and then take decisions, he added.

Appearing for Mr. Prabhakar, Mr. Sriram said his client’s right to be a member of the party had ben taken away in a wrongful way. Stating that he had been expelled from primary membership without even a pretence of an inquiry, the Senior Counsel argued that the balance of convenience was in favour of granting the injunction.

In his submissions on behalf of the AIADMK and Mr. Palaniswami, Mr. Vaidyanathan said Mr. Panneerselvam, too, had gone about issuing statements expelling Mr. Palaniswami and the latter’s supporters from the party.

“I have not heard a speck of an argument on how irreparable prejudice will be caused to the plaintiff if an interim injunction is not granted. This is a classic case of rule-breakers throwing the rule book before the court to throttle the voice of an overwhelming majority of general council members,” he said.

The Senior Counsel said Mr. Panneerselvam had expelled his brother O. Raja from the party without any notice and inquiry. “If somebody is under an illusion that he is a pre-eminent leader, let him establish it by approaching the people or the Election Commission, not in the court,” he said.

Mr. Narayan, representing the general council, said the council was the supreme body of the party, and it had been bestowed with the powers to take any decision concerning the party. Since it was the wish of the founder that the general secretary must be elected by primary members, appropriate resolutions had been passed, he said.

On the other hand, it was Mr. Panneerselvam who got elected as party coordinator not by the primary members, but by the general council in 2017, he said. He also wondered what was so onerous or illegal about the insistence that the names of those contesting the post of general secretary must be proposed by 10 district secretaries and seconded by 10 others.

Such a condition had been incorporated to avoid the filing of frivolous nominations, he said. After completion of arguments, the judge intended to deliver orders on Friday. However, the Senior Counsel for Mr. Panneerselvam obtained time till Friday for submitting his written arguments.