Rs 696 cr for development of slums, JJ colonies
While presenting the Budget for 2025-26, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday announced a significant increase in funding to improve infrastructure and living conditions for the city’s urban poor.
Despite being the Capital of India, a large section of Delhi’s population continues to live in slums where even basic amenities remain inaccessible. This, Gupta emphasised, has been a failure of previous administrations, and her government is determined to change it.
“The unfortunate reality is that despite enormous expenditures over the years, basic infrastructure such as sanitation, footpaths and water facilities remain scarce in these areas,” said Gupta.
As part of this transformative agenda, the Delhi government has allocated Rs 696 crore to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) for the development of slums and JJ colonies. This represents a 157% per cent increase in allocation as compared to the last year’s Budget.
The Budget also proposes a Rs 230-crore allocation for critical infrastructure works, including footpaths, drains, toilets and maintenance services — an increase from Rs 42 crore in the previous year. A specific focus will be placed on creating bathrooms for women, addressing an urgent need in many underdeveloped areas.
In a further effort to uplift Delhi’s urban poor, Gupta also announced that the city would now embrace the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme, which had “previously been underutilised by the former government”. An allocation of Rs 20 crore has been proposed under this scheme to provide affordable housing and benefits to the urban poor.
