E-Paper
Delhi Economic Survey paints rosy picture
Delayed by more than six months, the survey paints a rosy picture on the financial health of the city state, reports Amitabh Shukla.
The Economic Survey of Delhi for the year 2005-06 was released on Tuesday. Delayed by more than six months, the survey paints a rosy picture on the financial health of the city state. However, the scenario is grim in sectors like Transport and Health.
Transport: The total number of vehicles has almost doubled in the last 10 years. While only 26.30 lakh vehicles were registered by the year 1995-96, there are 48.30 lakh vehicles registered till the survey was completed in March this year. It would touch 50 lakhs in the next few months.
Road network: There are six different agencies maintaining the roads in the city - NHAI, PWD, MCD, NDMC, DDA and Delhi Cantonment Board. The road network in Delhi was 31,183 kms in March 2006. While the road length in the city has grown from 8380 kms in 1970-71 to 31,183 kms in March this year (3.7 times), the number of vehicles has increased from 2.14 lakhs in 1971-72 to 48.30 lakhs (23 times).
“The imbalance between growth of vehicles and road network has led to heavy traffic congestion and reduced vehicle speed,” the Economic Survey pointed out.
Migration: The survey points out that of the total migration in Delhi, UP sent 40.05 percent in the decade between 1991-2001. This was followed by Bihar with 19.09 percent of all migrants in the decade. Officials, however, point out that in t he last five years after the survey was conducted, Bihar matches UP as far as migration to the city is concerned.
Education: The per capita expenditure on education in Delhi is Rs 1445.20 at present. It is much higher than other states where the expenditure is Rs 752.32. Over 93,000 teachers were teaching around 3.02 million children enrolled in 4862 schools in the year 2004-05.
Health: The per capita expenditure of Delhi on health was Rs 617 as compared to Rs 189 at the national level. The total bed capacity of the medical institutions (private and government) in Delhi was 33,030 on December 31, 2005. Number of beds per thousand people comes to 2.08 in the city. This has come down from 2.25 in the year 1982. According to the recommendations of the World Health Organisation, this should be 5 per thousand.
Finances: Unlike the other states, there was a fiscal surplus of Rs 245 crores in 2005-06. The outstanding block loans of Delhi government now stands cleared as it has prepaid the entire loan. The grant received by Delhi in lieu of share in central taxes remained stagnant at Rs 325 crore for the last five years.
Finance Minister AK Walia said: “Delhi’s own tax revenue has registered an average annual growth of 19.04 percent. The collection of VAT during 2005-06 showed a growth of about 25 percent over previous year’s sales tax collection.
