Delhi budget session to be held from March 24 to 28: Chief minister Rekha Gupta

The session will begin with a kheer ceremony at 9am on Monday where representatives of all groups affected by the budget will be invited

Chief minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday said that the Delhi government received more than 10,000 suggestions from the public for the budget, which is likely to be presented on Tuesday. The budget session will be held from March 24 to 28 and may be extended if needed, she added.

Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta. (PTI)

She said that the session will begin with a kheer ceremony at 9am on Monday to mark the “Viksit Delhi” budget and “budget of the people” to which representatives of all groups affected by the budget will be invited.

“On March 3 we had sought views and recommendations from the people on what they want from Delhi’s budget. We received 3,303 suggestions on email and 6,982 WhatsApp messages. We have carefully considered all those suggestions,” Gupta said. This will be the first budget in 27 years to be presented by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Gupta said that the government held several consultations with women, educators, farmers, residents of JJ clusters, doctors, traders, industrialists, influencers, college students and government and private employees, while preparing the budget. She said that no group has been exempted from the upcoming budget which will likely be announced on Tuesday.

“We have paid attention to all the needs of the common man such as water and electricity as well as women empowerment. This budget will also focus on solutions to water logging concerns, cleaning of the river Yamuna, tackling air pollution, education, health, employment and infrastructure development. It fulfils Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a Viksit Delhi,” Gupta said.

She said that the “Dilli ka vikas” (progress of Delhi) will begin with “kheer ki mithas” (sweetness of kheer).

The Delhi assembly secretariat had previously said that the second (budget) session of the Delhi assembly will start on March 24 at 11am and will continue till it is adjourned for the day at the assembly hall in the Old Secretariat. Government business will be held on March 24, the budget will be presented on March 25, general discussion on the budget will be held on March 26, consideration and passing of the budget will be done on March 27 and private members’ bills and resolutions will be discussed on March 28.

AAP holds protests on scheme for women

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held demonstrations across Delhi on Saturday, saying that the BJP government had “betrayed” hundreds of thousands of women by failing to deliver on its promise of ₹2,500 aid per month. AAP supporters, senior party leaders and MLAs held rallies symbolically handing out ₹2,500 cheques from what they termed the “bank of jumla” while criticising the government on what it called unfulfilled commitments.

AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the Prime Minister had promised every woman in Delhi that they would start receiving ₹2,500 per month from March 8.

“March 8 has passed, and Delhi’s women are still waiting. That is why the AAP has given women cheques from the ‘bank of jumla’ with ₹2,500 written on them. We are handing out these cheques to remind the BJP of its promise. We hope that this will bring some shame to the BJP and force them to fulfil their commitment,” he added.

The BJP did not respond to a request for a comment.