Delhi govt holds meetings on Budget estimates

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta's Cabinet meets to discuss the budget focusing on women's empowerment, health, transport, and more, inviting public suggestions.

Chief minister Rekha Gupta and her Cabinet ministers on Friday held separate key meetings related to the upcoming Delhi budget which is likely to focus on financial empowerment of women, expansion of health care sector, transportation services, clean-up of Yamuna, and senior citizen welfare, officials said.

Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta. (PTI)

While the CM held a high-level meeting with government officials and environment and industry minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the details of which were not known, state ministers held departmental meetings to discuss the Budget estimates for 2025-26.

Sirsa held meetings with officials from the industries, forest, environment and food and civil supply departments. Meanwhile, Parvesh Verma held meetings with Public Works Department (PWD), irrigation and water department, officials aware of the matter said. Other ministers, including Kapil Mishra, Ashish Sood, Ravinder Singh Indraj and Pankaj Singh also discussed the budget estimates with their respective departments.

The Budget session is likely to be held between March 24 and March 26, the CM had earlier said. For this, she has also been holding consultations with various groups and stakeholders such as women, educators, traders and industry leaders.

“We are seeking the people’s suggestions and will include them in the Budget to fulfil all their expectations and will also fulfil all the promises that we have mentioned before,” Gupta had said.

Meanwhile, officials aware of the matter said that the ₹2,500 in financial assistance to women, a key poll promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party made ahead of February assembly elections, is likely to get a revised allocation in the Budget. The finance department had earlier suggested that an annual allocation of ₹4,560 crore may be required, as the previous government had announced distribution of just ₹1,000 for women and allocated ₹2,000 crore under the Chief Minister Mahila Samman Yojana, officials said.

The BJP government has invited suggestions from people for the Budget. People can share suggestions on the email ID, viksitdelhibudget-25@delhi.gov.in, or call 9999962025. There is also a website where people can drop their suggestions, the CM had said.

The previous AAP government had presented a ₹76,000 crore budget for the financial year 2024-25, consisting of announcements related to education, health, safety of women and public infrastructure.