With thousands of people affected with Covid-19 and more than 500 dead from the pandemic, Delhi is one of the worst infected states. Recently the Delhi government demanded Rs.5000 crore for financial assistance from the Central government to pay salaries to its employees (ref).
They said that the lockdown and pandemic had drained the state’s revenue entirely. Their plea broke a political mayhem, as the AAP government was asked to rationalize their appeal for financial help.Both BJP and Congress accused the AAP government for wasting the finances meant for public welfare.
Finance Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia in his appeal revealed that the tax collection of Delhi had gone down by 85% in the last two months and Rs. 5,000 crores was needed to pay the salaries of government employees that were working on the front.
Manoj Tiwari, along with other BJP governments, reminded Kejriwal about his statement of ‘surplus revenue’ in Delhi, which he gave in the month of December last year. Tiwari added that the Delhi government has kept the people in an illusion of providing good health services.
Instead, the hospitals are without beds and ventilators and the people have no other option but to pay for their treatment in private hospitals. Delhi government said that they earned about Rs. 7,800 crore last year in the months of April and May in contrast to Rs. 1,735 crore this year.
The salaries and office expenses alone come up to Rs. 5,000 crore, Sisodia said. The Delhi Congress, too, blamed the Delhi government for not utilizing the money of the tax payers wisely. Better financial management would have helped them handle the Covid-19 situation better, revealed the Delhi Congress President, Anil Kumar.
Conclusion :
Manish Sisodia has already sent a written appeal for this financial help to the Finance
Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, but he is yet to receive an answer. Let’s hope for
good news from our Finance minister for the Delhi Government.
