'31 Schools Closed, Health Budget Cut': Meenakshi Lekhi Slams Kejriwal On Delhi Budget

New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi on Tuesday discussed in detail the Union Budget 2023-24 and drew attention to what the budget has in store for Delhi.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Lekhi said that Rs 11,932.03 crore has been allocated to the Delhi Police in the Union Budget, which is an increase of Rs 1,576.74 crore or 15.22 per cent over the previous year. This is in line with the commitment of the Central government to ensure law and order in the national capital, she said.

Lekhi said that the Railways has allocated a budget of Rs 2,477 crore for the development of infrastructure at various stations in Delhi. If this amount is compared to the time period of 2009-2014, the allocation has been increased by more than 26 times.

She said that the redevelopment of the New Delhi railway station is being done at a cost of more than Rs 4,500 crore. Four stations -- Bijwasan, Safdarjung, Delhi Cantt and New Delhi -- will be given major upgradation on the lines of modern airport terminals. These stations will have lobby, food court, plaza, waiting lounge, children`s playing area, parking lot, segregation of departure and arrival as in airports.

Lekhi also accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government of cheating Delhiites in the name of freebies.

She said the Delhi government does not want to upgrade the infrastructure, but wants to distribute `revri` peoplke.

"Arvind Kejriwal is fond of making tall claims. Earlier they used to lie only to the people of Delhi, now they are lying to the citizens of other states too," she said.

The BJP leader said that despite talking about the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Central government in 2020, the Delhi government has not implemented it till date.

Lekhi also said that how the Delhi government has looted public money in the name of Mohalla Clinics is known to all.

"There are no primary health facilities in the national capital. The total outlay for the health sector stood at Rs 9,769 crore in 2022-23. In fact, it is a decline of 1.6 per cent from the previous year.

"The Kejriwal government launched the employment budget, which said that the income of Delhiites would be at par with that of Singaporeans and 20 lakh jobs would be created, but no one knew what was the ground reality," she said.

Questioning the education system in Delhi, Lekhi said that AAP doesn`t have money to pay salaries to the teachers and non-teaching staff of Delhi University colleges, but it talks about free education.

"For months, the DTA has been protesting for the payment of dues. Last year also they cleared the dues only after the intervention of the Lieutenant Governor. This is their world-class education model which includes not paying the teachers.

"Instead of opening 500 schools, 31 schools have been closed. Teachers of Deen Dayal Upadhyay College are on strike due to non-payment of salaries," she said.

(The above article is sourced from news agency IANS. Zeenews.com has made no editorial changes to the article. News agency IANS is solely responsible for the contents of the article)