A day after AAP leaders called on Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to demand enhanced budgetary allocation for the Capital, the BJP accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia of furnishing “false and misleading” information to her regarding Central assistance to Delhi.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta alleged that Delhi gets “₹15,000 crore” from the Centre which, he argued, constituted 25% of the Delhi government’s budget. “The CM and Dy. CM concealed the fact that out of the Delhi government’s budget allocation of ₹55,360 crore for 2018-19, the Centre made a contribution of ₹8,523 crore,” Mr. Gupta argued.
“It gave ₹6,392 crore as grant, ₹325 crore as share in taxes, ₹1,906 crore as loan from the Central government. It gave ₹4,000 crore as compensation for payment of pension to Delhi government employees,” he added.
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Compensation for loss of revenue arising due to implementation of GST is being given by the Centre at the rate of 14% per year. During 2018-19, Delhi government received ₹3,500 crore and is expected to receive ₹3,000 crore during 2019-20, Mr. Gupta said. Though the Kejriwal government strongly condemned the GST before its implementation, they “benefited the most” in terms of revenue collection, he added.