Delhi Budget: Govt increased VAT on a wide range of items

Delhi government has increased VAT on a wide range of items, including diesel that will have a ripple effect on food and other prices.

By TNN | Mar 23, 2010, 11.58 AM IST

Delhi Budget: Govt increased VAT on a wide range of items

NEW DELHI: Delhi finance minister Walia defended both the subsidy withdrawal and the diesel VAT hike by citing examples of other states: ‘‘ States like Madhya Pradesh and Punjab charge a far higher VAT on diesel than we do and we made the best efforts to keep the hike at the minimum possible, which is why we did not touch the VAT on petrol.

“As for the subsidy, name one state that continued it for so long after the original hike that had necessitated it was withdrawn. We were concerned so we footed the bill, but now we need this money for other welfare projects like widow pension etc.’’

In his speech he also mentioned how collections have dipped because of the economic slowdown. He also described the exercise as something that is essential in order to remove the deviations in tax rates before goods and service tax is introduced next year.

The tax hikes apart, the broad outlines of the budget remained similar to last year. There was a marginal increase in plan outlay from last year’s Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 11,200 crore.

Non-plan expenditure is pegged at Rs 14,660 crore. However, while the city is being expected to loosen its purse strings massively to fund the mega event later this year, there were hardly any new projects announced , with the budget speech harping on ongoing projects in most sectors.

There were some sops for the poor, though. The uniform dole given out to students of Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi government schools has been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 500 and Rs 500-Rs 700 respectively.

The number of people receiving old age pension, Walia said, will be increased from the present 2.5 lakh to 3.5 lakh as per the demands of the MLAs. These, incidentally were the two proposals which Walia used later to defend the harsh budget he presented.

The maximum registration fee that can be charged for any document has been hiked from Rs 100 to Rs 500. The fees for the other slabs too will be enhanced accordingly.

For most of the speech, Walia rehashed old and ongoing projects and even spoke of projects that had been completed , which included that 8,000 flats for the economically weaker sections that have been constructed with JNNURM funds.

On the power front, the Bawana and Jhajjar power plants were recycled , in case of water supply it was the usual dope about the Munak Canal. Old announcements were repackaged. This included the mention of the two special economic zones that will come up for information technology and gems and jewellery.

The speech mentioned Delhi Technological University in a congratulatory note, choosing to turn a blind eye to the students’ agitation that is presently rocking the university.

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