LPG cheaper, no fresh taxes in Delhi budget

New Delhi, Mar 9 (UNI) The Delhi Government today presented a Rs 2059.43 crore deficit budget for 2006-07, but cheered up citizens by reducing the prices of cooking gas, desi ghee, footwear and few other key items even while introducing no new tax.

According to the budget, presented by Finance Minister A K Walia, cooking gas will cost Rs 19.20 less per cylinder from the present rate of around Rs 295. Dr Walia proposed a reduction in the rate of tax on LPG and Piped Natural gas to 4 per cent.

Rubber, plastic and rexine footwear items having an MRP less than Rs 300, drugs used for treatment of Thallassemia patients, 'hawan' items and blood components were exempted from tax.

The rate of tax on desi ghee, inverter, wire mesh and metal mesh were brought down from 12.5 per cent to 4 per cent.

Composition tax was reduced to 3 per cent in case of goods procured outside Delhi and for which no statutory forms under Central Sales Tax are used. In case of goods procured from within Delhi, Composition tax was reduced to 2.5 per cent.

Dr Walia said since small chemists were facing difficulty in maintaining detailed records of transactions, a composition tax of one per cent of total turnover was being introduced for dealers having a turnover of less than Rs one crore.

To prevent diversion of bullion trade to Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where the tax on bullion sale was less than 0.21 per cent, he proposed a composition scheme under which the traders will pay tax at the rate of 0.1 per cent as against one per cent presently.

Of the total budget estimates of Rs 13,345 crore, Rs 5270 crore was earmarked under the plan and Rs 8075.48 crore under non-plan head. Another Rs 70 crore was earmarked for centrally sponsored schemes.

Transport sector has been earmarked the highest 27 per cent of the plan, followed by water and sanitation (16 per cent), urban development (14 per cent), health (13), education (10) and social welfare (4).

Increase of old age pension from Rs 350 to Rs 400 per month, free textbooks and uniforms to girl students of government and aided schools, monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 350 for physically handicapped persons above 18 years of age and construction of 40,000 houses for the urban poor were among other highlights of the budget.

Dr Walia claimed bouyancy in revenue collection after the switchover to VAT regime. Collection of VAT in the first ten months of the current fiscal registered a growth of 31 per cent, the highest during the corresponding period of the last four years, he said.

''It is a pro-women, pro-housewife, pro-consumer budget,'' Dr Walia said at a post-budget press conference.

Yet, the Opposition flayed the budget proposals. The ''new schemes'' announced in the budget in the health and infrastructure fields were in fact projects pending since long, leader of the Oppostion Jagdish Mukhi argued.

He pointed out that a high 55 per cent of the finances were allocated under the non-plan head. As against the budget and revised estimates of Rs 6,328 crore and Rs 9225 crore in 2005-06 on non-plan expenditure, the Finance Minister proposed only Rs 8075.48 crore under the head in 2006-07.

Under the plan head, as against the budget and revised estimates of Rs 5172 crore and Rs 4775 crore last year, Dr Walia proposed a budget of Rs 5270 crore for 2006-07.

''The plan size has been increased by only 0.2 per cent. If we consider a ten per cent increase in prices over the year, then in actual terms, the plan size has come down instead of going up, especially when the 2010 Commonwealth Games is ahead,'' Mr Mukhi said.

He regretted the budget gave no respite to consumers facing the brunt of a steep hike in the prices of cereals over the past few months.

UNI VN PA RK2035