DELHI ECONOMY SEES BOOM, PER CAPITA INCOME RISES
Budget session of Delhi Assembly begins; LG lauds AAP govt’s achievements in first address
NEW DELHI: The five-day Budget session of the Delhi Assembly began here on Monday with the address of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, his first since assuming office in December last year.
In his 30 minute-long speech, the LG ran through the work of the AAP government with education and health as the highlight areas.
Delhi’s economy grew at 8.34 percent in 2015-16, with the per capita income rising to three times the national level, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal said on Monday.
Addressing the Delhi Assembly at the start of the Budget session, Baijal said Delhi’s per capita income in fiscal 2015-16 as per advance estimates of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was Rs 280,142, compared to Rs 93,293 at the national level.
Delhi’s per capita income “is three times higher than the per capita income at national level”, he said.
Baijal added that the rate of growth of Delhi’s economy in 2015-16 was also significantly higher than the national level. The Arvind Kejriwal government will present its third Budget on March 8 since coming to power in 2015. Baijal, who has had an uneventful tenure so far, stuck to the script as he underlined the government’s measures like slashing power tariff by half and making a certain quantum of water supply free to improve the living standard of city residents.
He said the Delhi government’s 50 per cent subsidy on monthly power consumption of up to 400 units would continue. “Five new schools have been opened, while five others have been upgraded. Construction of 20 new schools and 8,000 classrooms are under- way,” he said.
Baijal said the Phase III of Delhi Metro, under which two corridors are being built parallel to the arterial Ring Road, will be launched by June, while the Phase IV which has recently been cleared will come up by 2021.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other top ministers of the Cabinet, including Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, as well as Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta were present during the House proceedings.
Baijal, who has had an uneventful tenure so far, stuck to the script as he underlined the government’s measures like slashing power tariff by half and making a certain quantum of water supply free to improve the living standard of city residents. He said the Delhi government’s 50 per cent subsidy on monthly power consumption of up to 400 units would continue. The LG said the government has increased minimum wages of unskilled workers to Rs 13,350 per month, semi-skilled workers to Rs 14,698 and for those in the skilled category to Rs 16,182 per month. Baijal added: “The development work in unauthorised colonies is being expedited. For the current financial year, an outlay of Rs 1,456 crore was earmarked for undertaking development in unauthorised colonies. “A total of 1,175 unauthorised colonies have Delhi Jal Board water connections till date,” he added.
The Ramjas College violence issue on Monday echoed in the Delhi Assembly with Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra raking it up along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “shamshan and kabristan” remarks to hit out at the Centre.
“Many talk of ram rajya, but in reality it has come to Delhi,” he said.