New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) The AAP government on Tuesday sought approval of the vote-on-account in the Delhi assembly for the first three months of the fiscal while proposing an estimated budget of Rs.37,750 crore for 2015-16.
Presenting the vote-on-account, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Aam Aadmi Party wanted people’s participation in the formulation of the budget.
Sisodia also holds the finance portfolio in the government that took power on February 14 after the AAP won 67 of the 70 seats in the assembly polls.
“The main reason for our seeking a vote-on-account and not presenting the regular budget is, as you know, our government has been elected last month with an unprecedented historic mandate,” he told the assembly.
“The budget cannot be prepared in a closed room. We will incorporate people’s suggestions in the budget. We are taking time because we are changing the process of preparing a budget,” Sisodia added.
He recited couplets in Hindi to drive home his point.
The full budget is likely to be presented in the first week of June.
A total of Rs.21,500 crore has been earmarked for non-plan expenditure and Rs.15,350 crore for plan expenditure. A separate Rs.900 crore has been kept for centrally-sponsored schemes.
Sisodia lamented that the central government assistance to Delhi was stagnant – Rs.325 crore – since 2001 while it was doubled for Haryana in the union budget of February 2015.