Pull up socks, less than one-third of allocated budget utilised so far: Chief Secretary to all depts

“The Chief Secretary reviewed the budget expenditure of all the departments. He pointed out that this year, the government has presented a Rs 1-lakh crore Budget and the total expenditure is way less…It has been six months and only about 25 to 30% expenditure of the allocated budget has taken place. He has strictly asked all the HODs to pull up their socks and start speeding up the projects and utilise the allocated funds,” said sources.

The Chief Secretary has also directed the HODs to hold meetings with their department every week to review the ongoing projects and fund utilisation and submit reports to him. He also plans to hold a meeting with all the HODs every week to review the capital expenditure and ongoing projects.

“The HoDs were asked to avoid delaying the projects, approve proposals, clear estimates and sanction funds as soon as they receive them, so that the tenders can be floated on time…The key direction was to start clearing up financial sanctions as many projects are stuck at sanction approvals, spend the allocated capital expenditures. Now, as we are in September, the preparation of revised estimates will also start. Before that project needs to be expedited,” said a senior official present at the meeting.

Sources said that most of the departments have spent only around 10% of the total budget allocated. The Finance department has initiated the process of preparation of the Revised Estimates (RE) for the 2025-26 financial year and Budget Estimates (BE) for the next financial year, said sources. All the departments have been asked to submit relevant details for this. In a circular issued to all the departments last month, the Finance department also pointed out some of the discrepancies which have continued to occur in framing of Budget Estimates by the departments, and stated that the RE and BE should be formulated by taking a realistic assessment of the requirement of funds, which can be utilised.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who is also the Finance Minister, presented a total outlay of Rs 1-lakh crore for the financial year, the highest-ever allocation for the Capital by the Delhi government.