Kejriwal, Sisodia seats chosen for Budget exercise

First meeting in Patparganj Each seat to have 40 sabhas The constituencies selected for involving people in the Budget are Patparganj, Kirari, Burari, Shahdara, New Delhi, Shalimar Bagh, Karawal Nagar, Jangpura, Bawana, Tilak Nagar, New Delhi, Dwarka and

The AAP government has finally identified 11 constituencies where residents would be directly involved in preparing the budget for their respective areas. The government will convene first such meeting in deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s Patparganj constituency on Saturday.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised during his recent speech in the Delhi Assembly that his government was determined to involve residents of each constituency in drafting the budget for the city.

The constituencies selected for involving people in the budget are Patparganj, Kirari, Burari, Shahdara, New Delhi, Shalimar Bagh, Karawal Nagar, Jangpura, Bawana, Tilak Nagar, New Delhi, Dwarka and Okhla. Once the residents of these constituencies take a call on their projects, the same will become part of the state Budget, which is expected to be presented by July- end in the state Assembly.

This will be for the first occasion when the state government would allocate funds for projects on the basis of the demand of the local residents. The concept of involving people in the budget- making process has drawn its inspiration from the AAP’s proposed Swaraj Bill, which the party has promised to introduce in the Assembly. A highlyplaced source said that the AAP government intends to form 40 mohalla sabhas in each constituency to decide upon their budgetary allocations for their local projects. Each mohalla committee is likely to have powers to get the work in their areas done up to an amount of about ` 50 lakh. The committees will also be given powers to decide upon the cost of each project. These committees will also be empowered to decide upon the contractors for each of their projects.

The source said that the government has instructed the local officers from different departments to be present in each committee meeting. It is reliably learnt that Mr Kejriwal has directed the district magistrates to submit reports about the mohalla committees in their respective areas.