Delhi’s budget will not be presented next week as preparation took “longer than expected”, Finance Minister Atishi said on Thursday. Delhi’s annual financial statement is sent to the L-G for his assent and comments. Once this process is complete, the L-G sends it back to the Chief Minister, who then forwards it to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Once approved, the budget can be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. The budget session of the Delhi Assembly commenced on Thursday with L-G V K Saxena’s speech on the achievements of the Delhi government in the ongoing financial year. Officials said that the budget was supposed to be tabled on Monday. This is not the first time that Delhi’s budget presentation has been delayed. Last year, a day before it was to be presented, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the MHA had not cleared the budget. This year, the Delhi government said that the delays were at its end. “We received L-G sahab’s approval on February 14. Earlier, the budget was passed by the cabinet on February 11, and on February 13, it was sent to L-G for his assent. There has been no delay from the L-G’s side. Today the budget will be sent to the MHA,” she added. The budget session, accordingly, has been extended, with the tabling of the budget expected either in the last week of February or the first week of March. “It takes approximately 10-15 days for the budget’s final approval and presidential assent. I estimate it won’t be presented before February 25; it is possible that it will be presented after February 25,” Atishi said. The BJP, meanwhile, called the failure to present the budget a “clear administrative failure” of the AAP government. Leader of opposition Ramvir Bidhuri said BJP MLAs will meet the L-G and demand that the government be dismissed. “The government admitted in the Assembly there was a delay in making the budget, but no reason was given. We want to know the clear reason and the one responsible. How was the date approved without the budget being prepared?” he asked.
