Union Budget: Delhi govt awaits funds to complete projects

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Thursday pinned its hope on the Centre for allocation of funds in the General Budget to execute its major schemes such as cleaning of the Yamuna, development of unauthorized colonies and strengthening of power transmission in the national capital. [caption id=“attachment_1611691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The Delhi government has urged Centre to provide more funds to implement its pet projects. “We need funds for projects to be completed. We are looking towards tomorrow’s Budget. Revenue generation has declined. We will pick up in the next two months,” said Chief Secretary SK Srivastava. The need of funds from the Centre has arisen due to poor revenue collection by Delhi government in the first quarter of this year. The revenue collection in the first quarter has witnessed a decline of 5.5 percent as compared to last year, said Delhi government officials. The revenue collection under the Value Added Tax category was Rs 4,000 crore in 2013 (for the first quarter), which declined by 6 percent with Rs 3,750 crore being generated in the first three months this year, they said. The revenue collection under stamp duty and registrations was Rs 900 crore for 2013, which declined by 14 percent and was Rs 770 crore for the first quarter of this year. In the vehicle tax section, there has been a marginal decline as the revenue collection in the first quarter of this year has been Rs 360 crore as compared to last year’s Rs 370 crore. In luxury and entertainment tax division, there has been 45 percent decline –from Rs 110 crore to Rs 60 crore. Only in the excise department, the revenue collection has improved with Rs 700 crore being generated in the first quarter this year as compared last year’s Rs 670 crore, the officials said. PTI