Delhi govt’s budget prep begins, focus likely on health care

New Delhi:

New Delhi:

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The Delhi government has started preparations for the 2021-22 budget and directed the finance and planning departments to issue circulars, seeking revised estimates for the financial year 2020-21 and budget estimates for 2021-22 from all departments, a senior government official said.

“Most departments have prepared their own reports on revised estimates (2020-21) and budget estimates (2021-22). They will be summarised in a day or two. Departments have been told that the first meeting on the budget is likely to happen later this week,” said the official.

In the 2021-22 budget, the official said, the government plan to increase allocation on health care, in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, which threw open new challenges for the sector.

Allocation on infrastructure projects and new welfare schemes are likely to witness a dip, the official said.

The budget outlay for 2020-21 was proposed by the Delhi government at Rs 65,000 crore, which is around 8.33% higher than the previous financial year’s outlay.

The proposed outlay includes Rs 48,070.47 crore for revenue expenditure and ₹16,929.53 crore for capital expenditure.

The highest allocation was on education at Rs 15,815 crore. Health care received the second-highest allocation in the 2020-21 budget at Rs 7,704 crore, with a special allocation of Rs 50 crore for adequate quarantine facilities to fight Covid-19.