Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said there was no shortage of fertilizers for the upcoming kharif season.

Talking to presspersons here, Mr. Mandaviya said there was adequate stock of urea on account of the long-term supply agreements the Ministry had with several producers abroad.

On di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), he said more import would be needed during the season.

He said the stocks available in the country at the start of April and the estimated domestic production between April and September would be sufficient to meet the projected requirement during the kharif season. He said there was no need to import urea and NPK fertilizers from the spot markets.

The estimated requirement of urea for the kharif season, he said, was 179 lakh tonnes and the total availability would be 194.31 lakh tonnes, including an opening stock of 55 lakh tonnes as of April 1 and production of 139.31 lakh tonnes during the next six months.

“Similarly, the opening stock of DAP is 25 lakh tonnes and production is estimated at 20 lakh tonnes, taking the total availability to 45 lakh tonnes for the kharif season. The requirement for DAP for Kharif is estimated at 58.82 lakh tonnes. The gap would be filled through imports,” he added.

The total requirement of NPKs for kharif is 63.72 lakh tonnes and the availability will be 77.15 lakh tonnes, including an opening stock of 28 lakh tonnes and estimated production of 49.15 lakh tonnes.

“We will not need to import urea and NPK fertilisers for Kharif season. A small quantity of DAP will need to be imported,” he said.

The country had imported 91.36 lakh tonnes of urea, 54.62 lakh tonnes of DAP, 24.60 lakh tonnes of muriate of potash and 11.70 lakh tonnes of NPK fertilisers in 2021-22.

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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