AAP, Congress slam cut in budget, flag strain on civic services: Chandigarh gets Rs 6,545.52 crore, Rs 437.66 crore less than last year

In comparison, the 2025-26 BE stood at Rs 6,983.18 crore — Rs 6,185.18 crore revenue expenditure and Rs 798 crore for capital works.

Revenue expenditure is largely spent on salaries and other recurring expenses, while capital expenditure is meant for development works and asset creation.

Despite Rs 437.66 crore less allocation, officials said the reduction is primarily due to a structural correction, following the UT Electricity Department privatisation.

Given this structural correction, the Finance Ministry has reduced the core energy-sector allocation from Rs 877.39 crore in the 2025-26 BE to Rs 156.95 crore in 2026-27, reflecting an adjustment of Rs 720.44 crore. Excluding this one-time structural change, the UT Administration says, the 2026-27 Budget reflects an actual increase of Rs 282.28 crore, or 4.63 per cent, over the previous fiscal.

Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari has criticised the reduction in Chandigarh’s budget allocation, attributing it to poor utilisation of funds by the UT administration.

In a post on X, Tewari said while the Budget 2025–26 allocation for Chandigarh was Rs 6,187 crore, revised estimates showed that only Rs 5,556 crore was actually spent, leaving an underspend of over Rs 630 crore. He said the underutilisation has now resulted in a lower allocation of Rs 5,720 crore in the Budget 2026–27.

The MP said the reduced outlay would directly impact urban infrastructure, healthcare and public services in the city. He added that the cut should not be projected as fiscal prudence but seen as a “lack of focus” in governance.

In the final Budget Estimates, however, the energy sector has been provided Rs 189.67 crore, which includes provisions for renewable energy initiatives and residual components following the restructuring. The allocation will be used for the promotion of new and renewable sources of energy and the implementation of the model solar city programme.

Sector-wise, the Budget continues to prioritise core public services. Six major sectors together account for Rs 4,998.45 crore — 76.37% of the UT’s total Budget allocation.

Education: This sector has received the highest allocation of Rs 1,295.38 crore — 19.79% of the UT’s total Budget allocation. The funds will be utilised for the modernisation and purchase of equipment, development of infrastructure for the National Cadet Corps (NCC), provision of amenities and services, expansion of graduate courses, and modernisation and construction of new polytechnics, including a government polytechnic for women and industrial training institutes.

Housing and urban development: It has been allocated Rs 1,127.95 crore (17.23%), covering land acquisition, infrastructure development, urban roads, storm-water drainage, electrification, civic works, IT Park development and projects such as pan-city 24×7 water supply.

Police: The department has been allotted Rs 970.53 crore (14.83%).

Health services: This sector will receive Rs 955.41 crore (14.60%). Its provisions include the upgrade of a 50-bed community health centre to a 250-bed hospital, strengthening of polyclinics, rural and urban subsidiary health centres, and implementation of the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme and other healthcare programmes.

Transport: It has been allocated Rs 459.51 crore (7.02%) for the purchase of new buses, replacement of condemned vehicles, modernisation of bus stands, computerisation of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking, construction of link roads and procurement of video coach buses for intercity transport.

Other sectors: Together they account for Rs 1,547.07 crore (23.63%) of the UT’s total Budget allocation. These include social security and welfare (Rs 99.44 crore), forestry and wildlife (Rs 54.26 crore), secretariat services (Rs 27.03 crore), labour welfare (Rs 24.43 crore), food and civil supplies (Rs 21.59 crore), agriculture and allied activities (Rs 12.42 crore), village and small industries (Rs 5.75 crore), and Rs 1,302.15 crore under miscellaneous heads.

Chandigarh unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress criticised the reduction in budgetary allocation for Chandigarh, alleging the cut would severely impact civic services and infrastructure.

The AAP flagged that the UT Budget for 2026-27 was pegged at Rs 5,720 crore, down from a revised expenditure of Rs 6,187 crore in 2025-26.

Senior AAP leader Vikrant A Tanwar said, “The reduced outlay, coupled with high administrative spending, will leave limited funds for development works.”

Tanwar also pointed to the absence of a clearly defined and separate allocation for the Municipal Corporation, warning “it could affect spending on roads, sanitation and drainage”.

Echoing similar concerns, the Congress said the cut was even sharper when compared to the original allocation of Rs 6,983 crore in 2025-26.

Congress chief spokesperson Rajiv Sharma termed the reduction of over Rs 1,200 crore as “unfair and unprecedented”, alleging indifferent treatment towards the city.

Sharma alleged that the Corporation was given only Rs 625 crore as grant-in-aid last year, even as the administration failed to utilise nearly Rs 500 crore, which is now likely to lapse.

He said the civic body, which handles most day-to-day civic works, received barely 9 per cent of the total allocation, despite facing a severe resource crunch.

Both parties demanded assured and transparent funding for the Corporation to prevent deterioration of essential civic services.