Presenting the budget, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government highlighted its achievements in various departments such as Education, Health, Transport, Revenue, Food and Civil Supply and Labour.

 

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds Finance portfolio, presenting the fourth outcome budget, said: "Delhi government is the only state government that makes suo-moto disclosure of its performance to promote transparency and accountability in public spending. The outcome budget is a report card on how various departments have performed based on the funds allocated under Annual Budget 2020-21."

 

Sisodia said that during lockdown, the Delhi government launched the series of 'Parenting in the time of Corona' in which, up to 98 per cent students received worksheets while 89-90 per cent of students of 11th and 12th grades attended online classes. The Delhi government carried out educational activities for 229 days whereas a normal session lasts 220 days.

 

On the revenue front, the Delhi government said it mitigated basic inequalities caused due to the pandemic and the revenue department set up as many as 1,914 hunger relief centers at the government-run schools for the period over three months.

 

The government claimed that cooked meals were provided twice a day to over 10 lakh people. Apart from these the AAP government also set-up 260 night shelters, booked 252 trains for migrant workers and provided an ex-gratia relief amount of Rs 1 crore to each of the families of 9 frontline workers who died due to Covid-19.

 

Sisodia said that responding quickly to the Covid -19 crisis, the Delhi government implemented a comprehensive Covid-19 response strategy. He said that Covid-19 tests of 87.8 lakh people was done in the national capital.

 

To ensure an adequate number of beds for Covid patients, the Minister said that the government arranged 27,873 beds in all government hospitals, which was twice the number available compared to actual occupancy at all times.

 

To tackle the coronavirus, Delhi also became the first state in the country to experiment with plasma therapy, he said.

 

Sisodia said that in addition to providing cooked meals during lockdown, the Delhi government distributed free ration to 71 lakh ration card holders. A total of 65 per cent of Delhi's population were provided free food grains to help them at the much needed time during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Highlighting its achievements in the labour department, Manish Sisodia told the house that construction workers who lost their livelihoods during the pandemic were also provided special assistance.

 

The Delhi government provided financial aid to 44,683 construction workers who registered under the Delhi government's Construction Workers Welfare Board. Sisodia claimed it was the highest financial assistance provided by any state in the country, followed by Punjab and Kerala at Rs 3,000 each.

 

Sisodia said to curb pollution and make Delhi a clean and green city, Delhi government also launched the electric vehicle policy.

 

Concluding the budget presentation, Sisodia said: "The outcome budget has become an integral part of the governance system and helps the government to rank all departments on the basis of their performance. The departments are now more proactive and work in a more target oriented approach, which gives better results."