Kejriwal meets Sitharaman, discusses Delhi economy
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 27
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with Manish Sisodia today met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of the Union Budget slated for July 5. They congratulated the Finance Minster on her victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Chief Minister discussed issues related to Delhi’s economy with the Finance Minister.
After the meeting, Kejriwal tweeted, “I met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, assured her of our cooperation. We discussed issues related to improving Delhi’s economy, asked for grants from Centre to municipal bodies, and demanded that IGST of Rs 3,000 crore that is with Centre should be returned (sic).”
He said people of Delhi pay Rs 1.5 lakh crore tax and in return, the capital gets only Rs 325 crore in the Central taxes. Kejriwal said, “I assured the Finance Minister of all cooperation. We will work together to make Delhi prosper. We will generate more revenue in Delhi and contribute to boost the national economy.”
He said municipal corporations in all other states get grant, but in Delhi the civic bodies do not get any grant. “We demanded grants from the Centre to municipal bodies in Delhi and IGST of Rs 3,000 crore that is with the Centre should be returned to Delhi,” he said.
Reacting to Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who in Parliament said the Centre did not receive any proposal from the Delhi Government on free ride for women, Kejriwal said, “Legally, the Delhi Government doesn’t need to send a proposal to the Centre regarding this issue. Both the Delhi Metro and the Delhi Government are ready to work on this proposal. Being the Delhi Chief Minister, I assure women that we will implement free Metro ride for them in Delhi.”
He said the Delhi Government will bear the loss of the Delhi Metro, DTC and cluster buses.
Replying to a question, he said, “The proposals such as mohalla clinics and CCTV project which were stuck for long have been cleared.”
“We don’t need to send any proposal to the Central Government. The Delhi Government has decided to make Metro travel for women free by giving subsidy for the same. We wrote to the DMRC to send a proposal to us. We agree to the proposal sent by the Metro to us,” said the CM.
