The Rs 27,067-crore Budgets plan outlay is nearly a fifth more than last year; proposes 12.5 per cent VAT on raw tobacco,bidis Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday presented the Delhi Budget for the coming fiscal with focus on the social and transport sectors and without too many heavy tax proposals. The Rs 27,067-crore Budget for 2011-12,with a plan outlay nearly a fifth more than last year,will make diesel cars,sweets and namkeen costlier. But bicycles priced up to Rs 3,500,kerosene stoves,lanterns and petromax items that Dikshit said mattered to the aam aadmi will become slightly cheaper as the Value Added Tax on them was withdrawn. Dikshit did not focus on specifics when asked to describe the Budget,her first-ever since she assumed power in 1998. I would say its a forward looking Budget. We have tried to tap areas that we hadnt tapped before, she said She described the Budget proposals,to levy a 12.5 per cent VAT on bidis and raw and hooka tobacco and increasing it from five per cent to 12.5 per cent on sweets and namkeen,as a social message. All these items affect peoples health adversely. The tax increases are meant to be disincentives and not really revenue spinners, she said. The 25 per cent increase in registration fee on diesel cars that increase air pollution is also a disincentive aimed at reducing its sales,Dikshit said. Calling cycling a healthy and non-polluting mode of transportation,which needs encouragement and protection of the government,Dikshit promoted the aam aadmis preferred mode of commutation by removing VAT on it. She also proposed to tax industrial textiles such as canvas belts,filter clothes and furnishing and suitings at five per cent. Of every rupee the government proposes to spend next fiscal,nearly 25 paise will be spent on transport,13 paise on health,12 paise each on water and sanitation,and energy and 11 paise on urban development. In line with her comments post the Commonwealth Games,Dikshit announced new schemes for the poor and increased budgetary grants for the social sector. She unveiled an ambitious universal free health facility which will cover nearly 27 lakh school-going children up to the age of 14 years. Delhi will be the first state to provide free treatment and compulsory check-ups for students of schools either under the Delhi government or aided by it,the MCD,the NDMC and the Cantonment Board, Dikshit said. The government also set aside Rs 405 crore for the construction of houses for economically weaker sections while earmarking Rs 180 crore for improving civic amenities in slum clusters. The Chief Minister proposed an amount of Rs 698 crore for development work in over 1,200 unauthorised colonies and increased monthly emolument for Anganwadi workers. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party,however,said an utter lack of foresight or a focussed plan to improve living conditions in Delhi underscored the Budget.
