Atishi demands Rs 10,000 crore for Delhi's infrastructure development

Delhi finance minister Atishi on Friday, 19 July, demanded Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre for infrastructure development, claiming the city government got nothing in return over the past year despite its income tax contribution of Rs 2 lakh crore.

Delhi also provided Rs 25,000 crore as central GST to the pool of taxes, the minister said during a press conference.

Ahead of the presentation of the Centre's annual budget, Atishi batted for release of more money to Delhi, saying it could be spent on infrastructure development in road, transport and power sectors as well as to beautify the city.

Asserting that people of Delhi are the highest income tax payers, the minister said, "Delhi should get Rs 10,000 crore from the Rs 2.07 lakh crores that people of the city pay as income tax. This amount of Rs 10,000 crore is just 0.25 per cent of the Central government's budget and only 5 per cent of the income tax of Delhiites."

The Monsoon Session of Parliament will begin from 22 July. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget on 23 July.

Atishi said the Centre receives Rs 5 lakh crore as taxes from Mumbai and in return, Rs 54,000 crores are given to the Maharashtra government by the Centre. Bengaluru like Delhi also contributes Rs 2 lakh crore as taxes and the Centre provides Rs 33,000 crore from its pool of taxes.

On the other hand, the Centre had been paying only Rs 325 crore to the Delhi government since 2001 from the central pool of taxes. However, even this payment was stopped in 2023 and now the city receives not a single rupee from the Centre, she said.

The minister said the people of the city paid Rs 35,000 crores in the form of taxes last year to the Delhi government that spent in on providing facilities like 24-hour free electricity, free treatment at hospitals, building and maintaining roads and flyovers.

Alleging step-motherly treated with Delhi, she said out of the total Rs 2.32 lakh crore Delhi people gave to the Centre, it did not spend a single rupee on Delhi.

The minister said she did not believe that cities like New York, Tokyo or London faced the treatment meted to Delhi by the central government.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP secretary Harish Khurana hit back at the minister, accusing her of lying on the issue.

He claimed the Centre gave Rs 4,258 crore in 2015 to the Delhi government that rose to become Rs 11,945 crore in 2022.