Delhi govt seeks ₹5,000 crore from Centre to pay employees salaries

Delhi government has demanded ₹5,000 crore from the Centre for paying salaries to its employees and meet office expenses in this “hour of disaster” as its revenue has taken a hit due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Faced with a drastic decline in tax collection, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday in an online media briefing said that the 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 for help.

केंद्र सरकार से निवेदन है कि आपदा की इस घड़ी में दिल्ली के लोगों की मदद करे। https://t.co/Z82D7UEZDo

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 31, 2020

Sisodia, who also holds finance portfolio, said the Delhi government required ₹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 ₹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.

मैंने केंद्रीय वित्त मंत्री को चिट्ठी लिखकर दिल्ली के लिए 5 हज़ार करोड़ रुपए की राशि की माँग की है.

कोरोना व लॉकडाउन की वजह से दिल्ली सरकार का टैक्स कलेक्शन क़रीब 85% नीचे चल रहा है. केंद्र की ओर से बाक़ी राज्यों को जारी आपदा राहत कोष से भी कोई राशि दिल्ली को नहीं मिली है.

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) May 31, 2020

“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 ₹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 ₹500 crore each month, Sisodia said, adding that the total revenue of the Delhi government from different sources was ₹1735 crore in two months.

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“But, we need at least ₹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 a decline in revenue collection, the 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.

(With inputs from agencies.)