The much-awaited civic budget was cleared during a special meeting held at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday, with the ruling AAP saying that “welfare of workers” is at the core of it. According to the MCD, the revised budget estimates for 2022-22 stand at `14,80,429 lakh (expenditure), while the budget estimate for 2023-24 stands at `16,02,355 lakh (expenditure).
AAP MLA and party’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak at a Press conference held after the end of the session at the Civic Centre, said the budget was cleared, and four resolutions introduced by its councillors for the welfare of traders were “also passed”. The civic budget is worth `16,023 crore and puts focus on areas such as sanitation, education and health, a senior official said.
A piece of land measuring 47.346 acres has been allocated by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for a landfill site in Tehkhand area near Okhla, out of which 32.346 acres will be used for setting up an engineering landfill site, work for which is expected to be completed by April 2023, according to the budget speech of the Commissioner, made last December. Delhi has three sanitary landfill sites located at Ghazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa. This proposed “engineering landfill site” will be city’s first such site, officials said.
The current three landfill sites in Delhi are spread over an area of 202 acres in total, according to the speech. In the budget, the Commissioner also said that CCTV cameras have been installed at 570 school locations, and proposals have been sent for other schools. Also, 1.5 lakh plants along with flower pots are planned to be bought in view of the G20 meetings, the budget had added. After discussion, the budget was passed, Pathak told reporters, soon after the session was over. “The welfare of workers is at the core of the budget, and besides the budget being passed, four resolutions introduced by our councillors for the welfare of traders were also passed.
These resolutions were brought in with the intent to provide relief to traders who have been facing problems due to sealing and other issues. Work on ‘vikas’ (development) will be carried out along with the welfare of workers, employees,” he said. Today, two of the promises made in “Arvind Kejriwal’s 10 guarantees have been fulfilled”, and slowly other guarantees would also be fulfilled, Pathak said.
The AAP councillor and Leader of House Mukesh Goel told reporters that with the passage of the budget, “employees and workers will get salary on time”. Pathak on Monday had announced that their councillors will introduce four resolutions for the welfare of traders during the special meeting of the civic body to discuss its budget.
One of the resolutions would be brought by AAP councillors Parveen Kumar and Sunil Chaddha relating to presenting the MCD’s side before the judicial committee appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the matter of sealing of local shopping centres, he had said.
Prem Chauhan and Devender Kumar will bring another resolution, which will propose that the traders who have received notices will not be penalised, he had said. The fourth resolution proposed that no notices, whatsoever, be sent to local shopping centres and commercial shopping centres, Pathak said.
