Delhi govt misleading people on revenue collection: BJP

New Delhi, March 27: Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta today accused the AAP government of misleading the public with its claim of earning Rs 20,000 crore revenue this year.

He alleged that even after charging heavy Value Added Tax (VAT) from general public and traders, Delhi government was far behind in meeting its revenue estimates target of Rs 24,000 crores.

The estimated target for revenue collection last year was to enhance Rs 8,000 crores per annum and accordingly it comes out to be Rs 24,000 crore but after applying all measures, the target is still not achieved, Gupta was quoted as saying in a release.

"The Delhi government has already increased excise duty, luxury and entertainment taxes but their target has not completed. It is surprising that the present government is able to spend only 45 per cent of the plan budget on development projects. It clearly shows that the Kejriwal-led AAP government has no ability to use and spend the money," he said.

The BJP leader said there were apprehensions that the Delhi government would bring CNG under VAT in the Budget session tomorrow which would "make the life of common people more miserable as they have to spend more for public and private transport." He alleged Delhi Value Added Tax Amendment Act-2 was passed in the Budget session last year without any discussion and the maximum limit of VAT was increased from 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

Gupta said the plea given by Delhi government to increase the rate of VAT further in order to stop corruption had actually brought in a "cruel Inspector Raj".

"They consider every trader as tax evader. They started a programme-bring the bill and get a reward. With this policy they have brought 80,000 new traders in the fray but they are the petty traders and their business is so small that they are not able to pay the hugely-levied VAT," he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today said the VAT department has managed to collect Rs 20,000 crore so far against its target of Rs 21,000 crore which officials claimed would be achieved by the end of March.

PTI