Union Budget 2020: 8% hike in outlay for Chandigarh

Housing and urban development sector is the biggest gainer, recording nearly 29% growth in allocation

The budget outlay for Chandigarh has increased by 8.1% from the previous year, with housing sector being the biggest gainer and recording nearly 29% growth in funding.

Against the UT’s demand of ₹5,300 crore, the Union Budget 2020 presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday allocated ₹5,138 crore to Chandigarh, an increase of ₹385 crore. However, no new project has been announced.

Last year, the city had received ₹4,753 crore against its demand of ₹5,200 crore. The expenditure under the capital head (used for asset creation) has also gone up, after seeing a dip last year. In the 2019-2020 budget, funds for capital expenditure had fallen to ₹401 crore from ₹505 crore in 2018-2019.

In the housing and urban development sector, the last year’s budget had earmarked ₹748 crore, which has now jumped to ₹963 crore. However, it is still 30% less than the administration’s demand of ₹1,380 crore for this sector.

Welcoming the additional ₹262 crore allocated to the sector this fiscal, UT adviser Manoj Kumar Parida said: “We will be constructing more houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).”

Recently, the UT administration had also written to the Centre, requesting it to allow construction of houses under the PMAY. Parida didn’t elaborate upon what type of housing the administration will be coming up with.

The outlay for urban development, under the UT schemes, also increased from ₹117 crore to ₹171 crore since the last budget, which will be used for land acquisition, infrastructure development, urban roads, stormwater drainage and electrification among other projects.

The allocation for police housing has also been doubled from ₹26 crore in 2019-2020 to ₹53 crore in 2020-21.

MC hopes dashed

For a financially struggling Chandigarh municipal corporation, the Union Budget didn’t bring the much-needed monetary relief.

Although the UT is yet to officially declare the MC’s share (grant-in-aid) in the total budget allocation for the city, a rough estimate reveals that the civic body will not get more than ₹425 crore.

Even as the allocation is ₹50 crore more than what was sanctioned in the 2019-20 fiscal, it is far too less than the MC’s projection of ₹1,078 crore, which it had calculated according to the Delhi finance commission’s report. MC commissioner KK Yadav said while more clarity is needed on the total allocation, it is clear that the MC did not get its due share as per the Delhi commission recommendations.

Other major sectors

Allocation to the health sector has increased marginally from ₹513 crore to ₹522 crore against the demand of ₹542 crore.

Similar is the case with the transport sector, which has seen a marginal increase in funding from ₹282 crore to ₹294 crore. Of these, ₹49 crore are proposed to be spent on purchasing new buses, including video coaches for intercity transport, upgrading the bus stand and computerisation of Chandigarh Transport Undertaking.

At ₹842 crore, the education sector, too, has seen a hike of ₹34 crore in allocation, even as the UT had demanded ₹890 crore. The police department gained ₹62 crore in allocation, receiving ₹561 crore.

“We are grateful to the Centre for 8% increase (in the budget outlay for Chandigarh) over the last year. The Union government has always been generous, keeping in view our efficient and transparent administration,” said UT adviser Manoj Parida.

While MP Kirron Kher called it a “good budget, with something for every sector and more money for Chandigarh”, former Union minister and Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal said the city’s interest has been overlooked. “Even the UT’s modest demand has been cut. The city will get just ₹494 crore for development works, which is grossly insufficient. The MC has also been given a cold shoulder, which will again force it to impose more taxes,” he said.