Lok Sabha passes Delhi budget

New Delhi, July 30: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the budget for the national capital by a voice vote.

The task, normally carried out in the Delhi assembly, had to be taken up by the parliament as the state is under president's rule.

"The Lok Sabha is taking up the budget as it is a constitutional necessity," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha.

On July 18, Jaitley had presented Delhi's Rs.36,776 crore budget for fiscal 2014-15 in parliament, proposing a new specialty hospital and 100 ambulances for accident victims, while keeping tax rates unchanged.

The budget provides for a Rs.260 crore power subsidy for small consumers, ranging from Rs.0.80-Rs.1.20 per unit, four new sewage treatment plants, 50 dialysis centres and Rs.2,400 crore for education.

Of the total outlay, the maximum amount - Rs.3,702 crore - has been set aside for the transport sector followed by the allocation of Rs.2,724 crore for the health sector.

In his reply to the debate Wednesday, the finance minister said Delhi has a good tax collection and almost 90 percent of the money required comes from the capital only.

"The debt-GDP ratio is less than other states," he said.

Highlighting the diverse character of the national capital, he said: "There is hardy a part of the country from where people have not settled in Delhi... It is like a mini-India."

IANS