New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia on Friday met Finance Commission Chairman N.K. Singh and demanded more funds for the national capital.
Kejriwal told the Chairman that Delhi has been subjected to gross injustice since the last two decades and sought more money for the national capital in central taxes and basic and performance grants to local bodies in the city.
The Chief Minister noted that Delhi gives Rs 1.75 lakh crore as income tax to the Centre, "but, it gets back only Rs 325 crore from the Centre for its own growth. Centre should invest more in Delhi so that economic activities grow in the national capital"d.
He said that till the year 2000, the Constitution provided for money for the national capital in line with what the other states were getting. "However, in the year 2000, the Constitution was amended and Delhi was removed from the list. Nothing can be done about what happened then. But as a result, Delhi ceased to get money from the Centre. This is injustice with Delhi," the Chief Minister said.
Kejriwal requested the Finance Commission that Delhi should also get funds for development like other states of the country receive.
"The Finance Commission decides on how much funds should be given to a particular state and thus we have made a request to them. We have asked them to give Delhi its due. We believe that if the formula prevailing before the year 2000 is implemented, Delhi will get Rs 6,000 crore annually," Kejriwal told media.
In his letter to the Finance Commission Chairman, Kejriwal noted that Delhi has five Urban Local Bodies of which three are major municipal corporations having population between 39 lakh to 62 lakh.
"The powers and functions of the municipalities in Delhi are the same as the local bodies in other states. The omission of local bodies of Delhi for not giving the basic and performance grants on technical grounds does not help the constitutional mandate of strengthening the local bodies.
"The three municipal corporations of Delhi are under a financial crunch and merit the same consideration from the Central government. Delhi also devolves funds to the local bodies, 12.5 per cent of its net tax proceeds on the basis of recommendations of the Delhi Finance Commission."
He also requested Singh to look into the matter personally and recommend the legitimate share of Delhi in the central taxes, basic and performance grants to local bodies and other grants if any being recommended to states for the award period of the 15th Finance Commission.
Last week, Kejriwal wrote to Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance) and Amit Shah (Home) to enable the Finance Commission to recommend the legitimate share of Delhi in central taxes and for basic and performance grants to local bodies in the city.
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