Education, health to get highest allocations in Delhi govt's 2023-24 budget, say officials

NEW DELHI: Education and health sector will get the highest allocation in the annual budget of the Arvind Kejriwal government for the 2023-24 financial year, officials said on Sunday. In the 2022-23 Delhi Budget, the education sector received the highest allocation of Rs 16,278 crore, a slight decline from the previous fiscal budgetary outlay of Rs 16,377 crore.

The health was allocated Rs 9,769 crore in the 2022-23 budget while it was Rs 9,934 crore in the previous budget. According to government officials, new tablets will be provided to all teachers, including regular, guest and contractual, vice principals and principals of Delhi government schools.

"Dr Ambedkar Schools of Specialized Excellence (SoSE) started with 20 institutes in 2021. This will be increased to 37 in the coming financial year with a capacity of about 10,000 children," said an official. The official said Delhi government schools will work closely with their feeder schools in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to improve the foundational skills of children.

About ramping up health facilities, free diagnostic tests at Mohalla Clinics will increase from 250 to 450 tests. There are plans to massively increase the number of beds in Delhi government hospitals from 14,200 to 30,000, the official said, adding "Construction of nine new Delhi government hospitals is underway while four will be inaugurated next year."

"Expansion of 15 existing hospitals, including Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, will also be taken up in mission mode," he said. With a boost in tax revenue, the government's budget outlay for 2023-24 may be close to Rs 80,000 crore and "the biggest" allocation for capital expenditure would be for infrastructure projects, sources said on Thursday.

The Delhi government's budget size for 2022-23 was Rs 75,800 crore and Rs 69,000 crore in the previous year. This time, the budget will be presented on March 21 by Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot and it will be preceded by an Outcome Budget of the government. Gahlot was given charge of the finance department after the resignation of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia who was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case.