Delhi Govt Asks For Rs 5,000 Crore Package From Centre To Pay Salaries

New Delhi: The Delhi government has asked for a Rs 5,000 crore package from the Centre which will help them pay salaries’ employees.

“Delhi government needs close to Rs 3,500 crore per month to pay employees and meet other office expenses. In the past two months, GST collection has been around Rs 500 crore each on average. Including other avenues, the Delhi government has earned Rs 1,736 crore. We need Rs 7,000 crore for two months. I have written to the finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) to disburse Rs 5000 crore… We need to pay our employees such as doctors, nurses, teachers,” Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Sunday.

Sisodia said that Delhi was yet to receive any funds from the Centre under the disaster relief fund following the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown.

“Of disbursals made to states from the disaster relief fund, Delhi has not got any funds. There are financial issues in Delhi because of this and tax collections are low. Delhi gets no help from the Centre under other circumstances either… I have requested for Rs 5,000 crore to mitigate the problems that have arisen because of lockdown,” he said.