July 30, 2014
Saugata Roy speaks on the Delhi Budget | Transcript
Sir, I rise to speak on the Budget of the Delhi Government which is the National Capital Territory of Delhi. It was presented by the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley. This Budget is presented with an eye on the future Delhi elections which may happen any time considering the state of flux the Delhi is in. Let me start by stating two problems. Mr. Jaitley is a resident of Delhi. He was the President of the Delhi University Students’ Union from where he has traveled to become the Finance Minister of the country.
He knows the problems of Delhi intimately. But the BJP’s hold on Delhi has been tenuous. In the earlier days, BJP used to win all seats from Delhi and then, the BJP also had formed the Government in the National Capital Territory. The BJP lost it when Mrs. Shiela Dikshit became Chief Minister and Mrs. Dikshit was allowed to continue for 15 years sidelining the BJP altogether.
For the first ten years, the Congress Government’s performance was good. Bhagidari system was introduced. There were Residents Welfare Associations who use to become participants in the Government. It was the Commonwealth Games which brought bad name to the Congress and its Government. There was corruption not only in holding the Commonwealth Games but the corruption was also in the Delhi Government, as a result, we heard of Road over Bridge collapsing suddenly before the Commonwealth Games. The Congress lost the confidence among the people. The people were still not prepared to trust the BJP. As a result, when the elections were held, an entirely new party, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), came to power in Delhi. There was a lot of hope in the country that this party is lead by a non-politician, who has fought against corruption and he was former IITian and IRS officer. He brought new hope to the people of the country. But the irresponsible way in which the AAP Government resigned has belied the hope of all those who have placed their faith on the Aam Aadmi Party.
So, in the Lok Sabha Elections, people backed BJP which has again won all the 7 Lok Sabha seats from Delhi. But there are already murmurs of discontentment. I read in some newspapers that one of the MPs from Delhi is a Bhojpuri actor. He is not to be found by his voters anywhere. We also saw the actions of another Delhi MP, the other day, when he had to apologize in the House.
Let the BJP not take it for granted that people have really reposed their faith in them. They lost their faith in the Congress. They thought the AAP as an alternative. But with the AAP’s irresponsible behaviour, people were left with no choice and they have gone in for the BJP.
The main question is this. Why I am speaking on this Budget is that I worked in the Urban Development Ministry for some time. I know the anomalous position in Delhi. Somehow or other, in spite of calling Delhi a State, Delhi has not been given the power of the State. Law and order is entirely in the hands of the Central Government. The Delhi Police Commissioner is under the Central Government. All the land in Delhi is under the Ministry of Urban Development. For anything new to be done in Delhi, we need the permission of the Ministry of Urban Development. As a result of this, the Government in Delhi – earlier Chief Ministers have lamented – is a toothless Government. Since Shri Jaitley is from Delhi, he will appreciate this problem. Let this new Government think of making Delhi a full-fledged State. Delhi is in a very anomalous situation where Delhi is neither a fish nor fowl. It is neither fully a Union Territory nor is it a State. Delhi has to be rescued from this situation.
We, in other metropolis of India, are envious of Delhi. Delhi being the capital, a lot of money flows into Delhi. It is not a healthy sign if somebody is rating the face. It is rather an unhealthy sign. Blood should flow through the body. The Central Government funds have been given liberally to Delhi. The other metropolises like Mumbai, Kolkata or Chennai or Bengaluru or Hyderabad have not received similar amounts of money.
Look at the institutions in Delhi. Delhi has the IIT fully run by the Central Government. Of course, Delhi is the Capital of the country. Delhi has the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. It is fully run by the Centre. Delhi is also having the best metro system in the country. Thanks to the vision of one Shri Sreedharan who single-handedly took up the construction of Delhi Metro. Delhi Metro which is a joint venture between the Union Ministry of Urban Development and the Delhi Government is really our pride. It is providing a great relief to the people of Delhi.
Until the Metro was there and it has expanded, the transport problem of Delhi would have been insolubly unbearable. Metro has released everybody from this. Even in the sphere of higher education, Delhi has a few of the best universities in the country, all run by the Central Government. Delhi University is a Central University. Jawaharlal Nehru University is a Central University. Now, the SAARC University has been formed. Dr. Ambedkar University is there. So, Delhi has been gifted with everything possible. We are all part of this because we are citizens of this country. Delhi is also the Capital of the country. But what has really happened to Delhi? If it was not for the Supreme Court, successive Governments in Delhi, whether there or at the Centre have not done enough for Delhi. The polluting industries were removed from core areas of Delhi because of the Supreme Court order. Even, the CNG buses were introduced in Delhi again because of the Supreme Court orders. What have successive Governments done in Delhi? This is a matter that we have to take stock of, since we are discussing this in Parliament. Have we made Delhi a world class city?
Delhi is world class only in the Lutyen’s Zone. Outside, it has still not regularised jhuggi-jhonpari clusters. The common people of Delhi suffer from lack of drinking water. Electricity supply in Delhi has been given to private companies run by Tatas and Reliance, but that has not improved the state of electricity distribution in Delhi.
In this Budget, Mr. Jaitley has given Rs.17,700 crore for Plan. Of that, Rs.3,672 crore extra is Central grant-in-aid special for Delhi, Health – Rs.2,724 crore, Education – Rs.2,482 crore, Social Welfare – Rs.1,862 crore, Housing – Rs.2,154 crore, Water Supply is Rs.1,249.2 crore, Control of Pollution of Yamuna – Rs.1,750 crore, and Transport System – Rs.3,700 crore.
Look at the Yamuna Sir. It is the most polluted rain you can find in the country. We have run governments from the city of Delhi and what have we done to the lifeline of Delhi? Is there any scheme of the Government to really clean up the Yamuna as it passes through Delhi? Is there any concrete plan for providing adequate drinking water, specially in the slums? Is there any provision so that Delhi will be spared of loadsheddings? Kejriwal won because he promised these reliefs, but he could not…
Sir, I would request the Finance Minister and the present government to take a fresh view of the total structure under which Delhi is governed. I would request him to really look at how problems of Delhi have multiplied over the years making it almost uninhabitable city excepting the high-cost colonies. Delhi is famous for gated colonies for the rich, but the poor and the ordinary people who provide the backbone of Delhi are left in the lurch. They have to travel 40 kilometres. Without the metro rail, I do not know where they would be? They live in jhuggi-jhompri clusters. I do not have the time to go into the problems of Lal Dora and all that. The anomaly about Delhi’s Administration should be stopped once and for all.
Lastly, Sir, I have a small request to the Minister and I am sure he would accept it. He said that Delhi is inhabited by a lot of linguistic communities and it has four Academies of Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Hindi. May I inform him that there are more than 100,000 Bengalis living in this city, not only in Chittaranjan Park but spread all over the city? We would like an Academy of Bengali in the city of Delhi in the interests of the large Bengali speaking community. There is already Lady Irwin School and other good Bengali schools in this city. Why should not there be a Bengali Academy in this city?
With this, Sir, I conclude. Thank you.
