Atishi slams cap on expenditure, says Delhi Budget mere ‘jumla’
The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday cornered the ruling BJP government in Delhi over the capping of expenditure at 5 per cent of the total budgetary allocation for all departments in the month of April.
Notably, The Tribune had on April 1 exclusively reported about the Finance Department’s order to the Administrative Secretaries and the Head of Departments to ensure that the expenditure for the month of April should not exceed more than 5 per cent of the total allocation to their departments in the recently presented Budget estimates for the financial year 2025-26.
According to the official order, the said instructions for curtailing expenditure were issued to ensure “better cash management”.
Sharply reacting over the order, Atishi, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly, reasoned that with this restriction, the government can only use Rs 5,000 crore in the first month, and at this rate, will be able to spend just Rs 60,000 crore for the entire year — far short of the Rs 1 lakh crore it promised.
The LoP argued that when there’s no real money, there can be no real spending, adding that the BJP government’s own directive has exposed its grand budget as nothing more than a mere ‘jumla’.
“I explained in the Budget session that the Delhi government cannot generate Rs 1 lakh crore. If we examine tax figures, the budgeted estimates are inflated. At least Rs 5,000 crore less tax will be collected, Rs 10,000 crore less loan will be secured, and the Centre has not allocated a single rupee to Delhi in its budget. My estimates suggested that the real size of Delhi’s Budget might be closer to Rs 78,000 crore,” said Atishi.
She pointed to official records contradicting the government’s claims and stated that the documents from Delhi’s Finance Department confirm that the government doesn’t even have Rs 78,000 crore.
“If only 5 per cent of Rs 1 lakh crore can be spent in a month, that amounts to Rs 5,000 crore. Over 12 months, this totals Rs 60,000 crore, meaning the government itself knows it does not have a budget exceeding Rs 60,000 crore,” the LoP said.
