Delhi Budget starts today, infra projects set to get a leg up

Sources said the focus of the government is now on upgrading and beautifying the 1,400-km-long road network of the city. “Around Rs 20,000 crore over a period of 10 years will be spent on the entire project,” the official said.

The budget session of the Delhi government starts on Friday. L-G V K Saxena will give the budget speech Friday morning. The budget will be presented on March 21, Tuesday.

“During the eight-year tenure of our government, 28 flyovers and underpasses have been completed till date. Another 30 flyovers/ underpasses/ bridges will be constructed in the coming years,” the official said.

Work had also gathered pace, he said, on building three double-decker flyovers, where vehicles will run on lower decks and the Metro will run on the upper decks. They are being built by PWD and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in conjunction with each other.

In the 2022-23 budget, close to Rs 2,000 crore was allocated for construction of roads and bridges. Delhi’s budget was Rs 75,800 crore last year.

In an interview to The Indian Express, the new Public Works Department minister, Atishi, had said that alongside building infrastructure, her focus will also be on maintenance of projects that have come up over the years.

This is the first time the AAP government budget will be presented by minister Kailash Gahlot, who holds the finance portfolio. Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was also the finance minister, was arrested by the CBI in the last week of February in a case related to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped liquor policy. Sisodia, alongside jailed minister Satyendar Jain, resigned a couple of days later.

The reins of the finance department were handed over to Gahlot after the resignations. Even before the arrest, he had been part of meetings with Sisodia where discussions around the budget had taken place, sources said.