The Delhi government increased the number of hospital beds from 10,055 in 2019-20 to 13,844 in December 2021, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia said while presenting the outcome budget for the financial year 2021-22 on Friday.
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The Delhi government started the practice of presenting the outcome budget five years ago, wherein it shares the status report on various projects and schemes introduced in the previous budget session. This budget is aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in budgeting, Mr. Sisodia said.
“The idea of the outcome budget is to let people know where the proposals introduced in the previous year’s budget stand and how it is benefitting the people of Delhi. Whether we were able to work on our promises or not. The Kejriwal government does not get stuck in files and rhetoric, it fulfills all its promises,’‘ he added.
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Boosting healthcare
Mentioning other achievements in the health sector, Mr. Sisodia said that 520 Aam Aadmi mohalla clinics treated over 1.44 crore patients from April to December 2021, with the average footfall in the mohalla clinics being 60,000 patients per day. The Delhi government has inoculated 100% of the city’s eligible population with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 90% with both doses, he added.
Initiatives in education
The Minister, who also holds the Education portfolio, said the Delhi government had proposed building new classrooms in the last budget and has built 13,181 new rooms in government schools till December 2021.
The government started 20 new Schools of Specialized Excellence (SoSE), which now have a capacity of about 2,300 students. It also set up a new state board — the Delhi Board School Education (DBSE) — and tied it up with the International Baccalaureate (IB); 2,312 students will appear for the exams under DBSE next year.
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In higher education, Mr. Sisodia said the government set up the Delhi Sports University, Delhi Teachers University and the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University.
Transport sector
Mr. Sisodia highlighted that more than 3 crore pink tickets were distributed under the free bus travel scheme for women in DTC and Cluster buses, adding that the Delhi government came up with a progressive EV policy in 2020 with a target for reaching 25% share of EVs in new vehicle registrations by 2024.
Deshbhakti budget
Under the ‘deshbhakti’ theme of the budget 2021-22, the government had promised that on the 75th Independence Day, 500 Tricolours will be hoisted in Delhi, of which 125 flags have been installed so far. The government aims to install 200 flags by April 30 and all the 500 Tricolours by August 15, Mr. Sisoida said.
Programmes on track
A look at the key indicators of major departments showed the Power Department running 83% of its programmes on track — the highest among all departments — while the Welfare of SC/ST/OBC Department fared the lowest with 44% of programmes on track.
In the Urban Development Department and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), 45% of their programmes were meeting the planned schedule while in the Delhi Jal Board, 62% of its programmes were on track. In the Transport and the Health and Family Welfare departments, 74% of programmes were on track while the Directorate of Education had 72% of its programmes on track.