‘From 2015 to 2022, I heard…’, Atishi seeks blessings from Manish Sisodia’s family before Delhi budget presentation

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government will present its 10th annual budget for the financial year 2024-25 on Monday (4 March). The Budget Session of the Delhi Assembly commenced on 15 February and has been extended till 8 March. It was supposed to end on February 21.

This is likely to be the longest assembly session under the AAP government's regime, said officials, adding that it will be themed around “Ram Rajya".

Delhi Finance Minister Atishi will present her first budget after being inducted into the cabinet in March last year. This will be the first budget presented by senior AAP leader Atishi, who was elected from the Kalkaji constituency in the 2020 election.

Before presenting her budget, Atishi sought blessings from former Delhi Minister Manish Sisodia's family. Currently, Sisodia is in judicial custody until March 7 in the Delhi Liquor Policy case. 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she wrote, “Every year from 2015 to 2022, I have heard Manish ji's budget speech…Today in his absence, before I am going to present the budget, I took blessings from Manish ji's wife and his mother."

The Delhi government is likely to allocate ₹1,000 crore in the budget for various initiatives in unauthorized colonies. Delhi has nearly 1,800 unauthorized colonies, accommodating 30% of the city's population. 

In 2023, Kailash Gehlot presented Delhi's annual budget following the arrest of former finance minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case. The 2023 budget was based on the “Clean, beautiful, and modern" Delhi theme. The 2023 Delhi budget amounted to ₹78,800 crore with a provision of ₹21,000 crore for city's infrastructure.

The Delhi government is likely to strengthen the road network in these unauthorised colonies and augment the water-supply pipelines and sewer networks. A total of 1,031 unauthorised colonies in the city are already connected to the sewer network, with a total installation of 4,000-plus kilometres of sewer lines, officials claimed. 

Currently, around 1,400 unauthorised colonies in Delhi have water and sewer lines, drains and a network of 5,000-plus kilometres of road. 

(With inputs from agencies)