Delhi govt seeks Rs 5,000 crore from Centre to pay employees' salaries: Manish Sisodia
New Delhi: Faced with drastic decline in tax collection, the Delhi government on Sunday sought an immediate assistance of Rs 5,000 crore from the Centre to pay salaries to its employees and meet office expenses in this "hour of disaster".
Addressing an online media briefing, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the coronavirus-forced lockdown has affected the economy of the country as well as Delhi.
After the briefing, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter and requested the central government to help the people of Delhi "in this hour of disaster".
Sisodia, who also holds finance portfolio, said the Delhi government required Rs 3,500 crore per month to pay salaries to its employees and meet office expenses.
He said that the tax collection in Delhi has been around 85 per cent less than the normal collection due to coronavirus and lockdown.
Sisodia said that in a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he has demanded Rs 5,000 crore from the Centre as Delhi government did not get anything from the disaster relief fund that was given to other states, causing financial problems before the AAP dispensation.
"The major crisis before us is how to pay salaries of our employees so I have written to the Union Finance Minister for urgent assistance of Rs 5,000 crore," he said.
Delhi's tax collections are also low, the deputy chief minister said.
In the last two months, Delhi's GST collection has been only Rs 500 crore each month, Sisodia said, adding that the total revenue of Delhi government from different sources was Rs 1735 crore in two months.
"But, we need at least Rs 7,000 crore to be able to pay salaries to our employees many of whom are discharging frontline duties against the coronavirus epidemic, and meet necessary office expenses," Sisodia said.
Due to decline in revenue collection, Delhi government had earlier this month imposed 70 per cent Special Corona Fee on the maximum retail price of liquor.
It had also raised value added tax (VAT) on both petrol and diesel.
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Four of family killed as car jumps divider on highway in Gujarat's Panchmahal
Godhra (Gujarat) (PTI): Four members of a family were killed, and one sustained grievous injuries after their speeding car jumped a divider on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway corridor in Gujarat's Panchmahal district on Monday, police said.
The car driver lost control of the wheels near Kalol. As a result, the four-wheeler jumped the divider and veered off to the other side of the highway, an official from Kalol police station said.
Soon after the accident, some locals rushed to the scene and also alerted the police. Efforts were made to pull out the people trapped in the car.
Four persons died on the spot, while one suffered injuries, the official said.
The deceased were members of a family from Vadodara and were returning from Rajasthan when the tragedy struck, the official said.
They have been identified as Sajid Iqbal Khinji (55), Ilyas Iqbal Khinji (50), Ishaq Iqbal Khinji (48) and Rehan Azgar Khinji (35).
