Delhi’s share of pie from Union Budget: Gets Rs 700 crore for water, power
A sweeter deal for Delhi:
Out of many problems, few major problems of our national capital are water, power and women's safety and these also found a mention in the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2014-15. Here's what the Budget 2014-15 gave Delhi:
Water: An amount of Rs 500 crore has been earmarked to solve the water woes of Delhiites. This amount will be used to solve Delhi's water supply infrastructure and to streamline the water distribution system as many areas still do not have water supply in the national capital.
Delhi Police got Rs 4,653.19 crore in Budget 2014
A separate allocation of Rs 50 crore has been made for the Renuka dam project in Himachal Pradesh from where Delhi envisaged water supply of about 275 million gallons per day (MGD). This project was stalled by the erstwhile UPA Government due to some environment issues.
As per a report in ET, the current average demand for potable water in Delhi is around 1,100 MGD, but the Delhi Jal Board is able to supply only supplies around 800 MGD water across the city after treating raw water in its treatment plants.
Power:
A
sum
of
Rs
200
has
been
allocated
to
bring
reforms
in
the
power
sector
in
Delhi
as
long
power
cuts
have
been
very
rampant
in
the
Capital
adding
more
to
the
troubles
of
the
people
in
the
state.
Major
power
transmission
lines
often
trip
when
the
load
increases.
The
allocated
sum
would
be
utilised
for
strengthening
the
power
transmission
system.
Delhi Police: The maximum funding in this budget has come for the Delhi Police as it has been allocated Rs 4,653.19 crore. In the last fiscal, Rs 4259.20 had been earmarked which is nearly Rs 400 crore less than the present budget. This amount will aim at sprucing up training of Delhi Police personnel.
Rupees 11.50 crore have been allocated for installation of new traffic signals in the capital as against Rs 3.46 crore earmarked in the last budget.
For 'Developing Traffic and Communication Network in NCR Mega Cities and Model Traffic System' Rs 11.37 crore have been allotted in the current budget as against Rs 7.51 crore in the last budget.
For upgrading training facilities, Rs 4 crore has been allocated while Rs 44 lakh has been allocated for induction of latest technology.
Metro: For the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation which is in its third phase now, Rs 3,470.16 crore has been allocated under various heads. As the expansion of the Metro network into the National Capital Region is on anvil, the Budget has provided it sufficient funding through the Ministry of Urban Development.
DMRC Executive Director (Corporate Communications) Anuj Dayal was quoted as saying in The Hindu, Rs 838.07 has been allocated as equity for Phase III, Rs 763.15 crore as subordinate debt for Phase III (land acquisition and Central taxes); Rs 1,723.13 crore as pass through Assistance, and Rs 145.81 crore as Grant for expansion of Metro in NCR townships of Faridabad and Bahadurgarh."
In the previous fiscal, Delhi MRTS Project (including NCR) was allocated Rs 2,576.61 crore.
Central assistance: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allotted Delhi government Rs 349 crore in the Union Budget as central assistance for 2014-15, which is a decrease of Rs 682 crore compared to last year's allocation of Rs 1,031 crore.
Others: A separate amount of Rs 134 crore has been allocated for the National Capital Region under the budget allocation to the Urban Development Ministry and Rs 50 lakh for enhanced compensation for 1984 riot victims and another Rs 2 crore for improvement in statistical system.
With the infrastructure sector grappled with slowdown and with fund shortage in others, many important plans were either stuck or were not implemented. The Modi Government had promised Achchhe Din to the common man and thus Modi has started with taking these small steps from the capital of the country. The roadmap for a better has been made but the next challenge for the incumbent Government will be to implement all these plans. One can only wait and watch how much of this comes on ground ad saves the ailing economy which is at present falling off the cliff.