Atishi demands Rs 10,000 cr for Delhi, claims no return on Rs 2 lakh cr tax contribution
Delhi: Finance Minister Atishi on Friday demanded Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre for infrastructure development, claiming the city government got nothing in return over the past year despite its income tax contribution of Rs 2 lakh crore. Delhi also provided Rs 25,000 crore as central GST to the pool of taxes, the minister said during a press conference here.
Ahead of the presentation of the Centre's annual budget, Atishi batted for release of more money to Delhi, saying it could be spent on infrastructure development in road, transport and power sectors as well as to beautify the city.
Asserting that people of Delhi are the highest income tax payers, the minister said, "Delhi should get Rs 10,000 crore from the Rs 2.07 lakh crores that people of the city pay as income tax. This amount of Rs 10,000 crore is just 0.25 per cent of the Central government's budget and only 5 per cent of the income tax of Delhiites."
The Monsoon Session of Parliament will begin from July 22. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget on July 23.
Atishi said the Centre receives Rs 5 lakh crore as taxes from Mumbai and in return, Rs 54,000 crores are given to the Maharashtra government by the Centre. Bengaluru like Delhi also contributes Rs 2 lakh crore as taxes and the Centre provides Rs 33,000 crore from its pool of taxes.
On the other hand, the Centre had been paying only Rs 325 crore to the Delhi government since 2001 from the central pool of taxes. However, even this payment was stopped last year and now the city receives not a single rupee from the Centre, she said.
The minister said the people of the city paid Rs 35,000 crores in the form of taxes last year to the Delhi government that spent in on providing facilities like 24-hour free electricity, free treatment at hospitals, building and maintaining roads and flyovers.
Alleging step-motherly treated with Delhi, she said out of the total Rs 2.32 lakh crore Delhi people gave to the Centre, it did not spend a single rupee on Delhi.
The minister said she did not believe that cities like New York, Tokyo or London faced the treatment meted to Delhi by the Central government.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP secretary Harish Khurana hit back at the minister, accusing her of lying on the issue.
He claimed the Centre gave Rs 4,258 crore in 2015 to the Delhi government that rose to become Rs 11,945 crore in 2022.
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Nine dead as fire breaks out in residential building in east Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): A fire broke out in a residential building in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar early Sunday, leaving nine people belonging to two families dead, including a toddler, officials said.
The incident was reported around 3.48 am at a four-storey building in Vivek Vihar Phase-I, following which police, fire and disaster management teams rushed to the spot.
According to the police, the blaze engulfed flats on the second, third and fourth floors of the building, prompting a large-scale rescue operation.The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said nine charred bodies were recovered from different floors.
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"One body was recovered from the first floor, five from the second floor and three from the staircase which was found locked," the DFS officer said.
Those found dead on the second floor have been identified as Arvind Jain (60), his wife Anita Jain (58), son Nishant Jain (35), daughter-in-law Anchal Jain (33) and grandchild Akash Jain.
On the third floor, three members of a family were found dead. They were identified as Nitin Jain (50), wife Shailey Jain (48) and son Samyak Jain (25).
On the first floor a woman identified as Shikha Jain (45) was found dead while her husband Naveen Jain (48) sustained injuries.
A senior police officer said, "Around 10 to 15 people were rescued from the premises during the firefighting operation. Two of them, who sustained minor injuries, were shifted to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital."
A total of 12 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, while teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), traffic police and local police assisted in the rescue and evacuation efforts.
Police said the fire was brought under control after several hours. Efforts are underway to determine the cause of the fire, police said.
Further investigation and proceedings are underway.
