NEW DELHI, March 31: The Delhi Assembly on Monday unanimously passed the Delhi Government's budget for 1998-99. Chief Minister Sahib Singh also announced that Assembly polls will be held in October, adding that the final decision on the issue rested with the Centre.On the last day of the budget discussion on Monday, Congress MLA Ajay Maken launched a broadside on the government by saying, ``When the Delhi Transport Corporation and Delhi Vidyut Board (then DESU) were with Centre, the cost of the city's transport and power was the lowest in the country.
But since the Delhi Government has taken over these, prices have shot up. Now that the government has also taken over the Delhi milk scheme, it is very likely that the price of milk will also shoot up.''
On the financial burden on Delhiites, Maken added, ``People from Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida come to Delhi and use the subsidised services of transport, road and water. For all the subsidies that these people enjoy, the common Delhiites have topay.''
In his reply to the budget discussion, Finance Minister Jagdish Mukhi said that it was unprecedented for the budget to be passed without any cut motion or amendment. ``This only means that the Opposition is also happy with our budget,'' he concluded.
The Finance Minister clarified that the increase in non-Plan outlay was not due to the taking over of DTC and DVB and said, ``The reason why our non-Plan expenditure has increased is because we have implemented the Fifth Pay Commission. We had earlier provided Rs 80 crore for the purpose but when the report came, it worked out to be Rs 258 crore.''
On the issue of urban buses, Mukhi pointed out, ``We will not import any buses. We will only improve the existing ones.''
Taking a dig at the leader of Opposition Jag Pravesh Chandra, he said, ``This is not the Metropolitan Council you used to head, where your existence depended on funds from the Centre. Here, we make our own budget, where we get funds based on how we utilised them last time.''
Makingan announcement on photo identity cards during question hour, Sahib Singh said: ``Till October last year, of the 80 lakh voters in Delhi, 58 lakh had been photographed for I-cards. Around 55 lakh voters have been given their I-cards.'' Two centres, one on Satsang Marg and the other at Green Park Extension, have been set up to issue photo identity cards.
Answering a question on the issue raised by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Bodh Raj, the Chief Minister added, ``There has to be an intensive revision of the voter list, which is also being looked into. I am confident that the next Assembly elections in the Capital will be held with voter identity cards.''
On the state of the unemployed in the Capital, Sahib Singh said, ``Till December last year, there were 10,97,453 unemployed youths registered in the various employment exchanges in the Capital. Of these, around 79,919 are technically qualified people, 2,07,462 are non-technical youths, 2,38,350 are skilled and 5,71,514 are unskilled youths.''
Raising asupplementary question, Congress MLA Krishna Tirath said, ``But there are cases in which those registered with the employment exchanges have waited for more than 12 years without getting a call letter.
Soon, they cross the qualified age-limit and become unsuitable for a government job.'' ``Whenever a batch of people are called for a job, the senior-most person is given the first priority,'' Sahib Singh answered.In a special mention on the status of Scheduled Tribes in the Capital, he said, ``In Delhi, we do not have an Scheduled Tribe list, so we cannot give them any certificate. I have written to the Home Minister to provide us with a list and also a commission which should legalise the procedure.'' The issue was raised following a mention in Parliament on Delhi not certifying Scheduled Tribes in its territory.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
