<p>Delhi Finance Minister Manish Sisodia has urged the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to treat Delhi at par with the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and provide its share in central taxes, central assistance to Union Territories and disaster response fund to the capital's administration.</p>.<p>He made the request during the pre-budget meeting with state finance ministers with Sitharaman recently.</p>.<p>Sisodia told the meeting that the share in capital taxes for Delhi has remained stagnant at Rs 325 crore since 2001-02.<br /><br />Delhi government, by virtue of being a UT through the legislature, is not included in the Terms of Reference of Central Finance Commission and therefore gets an ad-hoc grant in lieu of its share in the central taxes capped at Rs 325 crore.<br /><br />“Being the capital of the country, and one the fastest growing metropolises, the Delhi government needs to maintain an infrastructure that meets the world standard. We want to improve the supply of civic amenities to meet the demands of the burgeoning population that expects a quality standard of living to lead a wholesome life in the capital. Moreover, the Delhi government needs funds to make huge investments in crucial departments like education, health, social, food securities, transports, roads and hospitals among others," he said.</p>.<p>Delhi with a population of 1.93 crore should at least be provided Rs 1,150 crore, along with an appropriate annual enhancement grant to the Delhi government for its local bodies. Considering the dire financial situation of the MCDs, he said a one time grant of Rs 12,000 crore which is the legitimate share of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi over the last 10 years should be provided.</p>.<p>Sisodia pointed out that the capital has five urban local bodies and three of them have a population between 39 lakh to 62 lakh.</p>.<p>As the powers and functions of the municipalities in Delhi are the same as that of the local bodies in the other states, omitting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in receiving its basic performance grants on technical grounds does not help the constitutional mandate of strengthening the city’s local bodies, he said.<br /><br />He said that the three municipal corporations are under an extreme financial crunch and merit the same consideration from the Centre. Delhi had to also devolve funds to the local bodies at 12.5% of its net tax proceeds on the basis of recommendations of the Delhi Finance Commission.</p>.<p>The Fourteenth Finance Commission allocated Grant-in-Aid of Rs 2,87,436 crore for the local bodies for the award period 2015-20 which works out to be Rs 488 per capita per annum, he said.</p>
<p>Delhi Finance Minister Manish Sisodia has urged the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to treat Delhi at par with the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and provide its share in central taxes, central assistance to Union Territories and disaster response fund to the capital's administration.</p>.<p>He made the request during the pre-budget meeting with state finance ministers with Sitharaman recently.</p>.<p>Sisodia told the meeting that the share in capital taxes for Delhi has remained stagnant at Rs 325 crore since 2001-02.<br /><br />Delhi government, by virtue of being a UT through the legislature, is not included in the Terms of Reference of Central Finance Commission and therefore gets an ad-hoc grant in lieu of its share in the central taxes capped at Rs 325 crore.<br /><br />“Being the capital of the country, and one the fastest growing metropolises, the Delhi government needs to maintain an infrastructure that meets the world standard. We want to improve the supply of civic amenities to meet the demands of the burgeoning population that expects a quality standard of living to lead a wholesome life in the capital. Moreover, the Delhi government needs funds to make huge investments in crucial departments like education, health, social, food securities, transports, roads and hospitals among others," he said.</p>.<p>Delhi with a population of 1.93 crore should at least be provided Rs 1,150 crore, along with an appropriate annual enhancement grant to the Delhi government for its local bodies. Considering the dire financial situation of the MCDs, he said a one time grant of Rs 12,000 crore which is the legitimate share of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi over the last 10 years should be provided.</p>.<p>Sisodia pointed out that the capital has five urban local bodies and three of them have a population between 39 lakh to 62 lakh.</p>.<p>As the powers and functions of the municipalities in Delhi are the same as that of the local bodies in the other states, omitting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in receiving its basic performance grants on technical grounds does not help the constitutional mandate of strengthening the city’s local bodies, he said.<br /><br />He said that the three municipal corporations are under an extreme financial crunch and merit the same consideration from the Centre. Delhi had to also devolve funds to the local bodies at 12.5% of its net tax proceeds on the basis of recommendations of the Delhi Finance Commission.</p>.<p>The Fourteenth Finance Commission allocated Grant-in-Aid of Rs 2,87,436 crore for the local bodies for the award period 2015-20 which works out to be Rs 488 per capita per annum, he said.</p>
