New Delhi, May 5 (IANS): With the Delhi government suffering a revenue crisis due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown, it has asked all its departments to suspend all non-essential financial proposals till June 30.
In an order issued on Monday night by the Delhi Finance (Budget) Department, the government has asked the departments to not send any financial proposal unless it is related to essential expenditure.
The order signed by Yashpal Kaushik, Joint Secretary (Budget), said that only those cases where the department considers that a specific activity or work cannot be postponed till June 30 can be submitted for consideration along with a report "justifying the urgency of payment".
It also said that while last month the departments were asked to cut expenses, they are still sending files to the Finance Department seeking relaxation approvals with respect to items which were not specified in the earlier order.
In the April 8 order, the Finance Department asked the departments to not make any expenditure other than salaries, wages, medical reimbursements, pensions, and bills related to water, electricity, sanitation, staff travel, telephone, postage and security.
"All the departments are requested to keep in abeyance all the proposals till June 30 which are not covered under the order dated April 8 and no proposal for relaxation or approval should be submitted to the Finance Department," the May 4 order said.
The government has already asked its Departments to cut their expenses drastically and to stop all the non-essential expenditures.
"Keeping in view the financial constraints due to shortfall in revenue as a result of COVID-19, the government has asked the Departments to cut the expenses," the May 4 order said.
It said the purpose of the April 8 order was that the expenditures relating to preventive measures for maintaining smooth and normal functioning of essential services which are critical to safeguard public interest are not affected.
The Finance Department also asked the head of the departments to avoid financial hardship to the employees.
"The intention behind the issuance of the order was that the Covid-19 related services are not affected and simultaneously the day-to-day works of the department are also smoothly continued for providing the services. These orders were for a specific period of three months and thereafter these were to be reviewed," the May 4 order added.
As the revenue generation of the government has been badly affected by the coronavirus induced lockdown, the Delhi government is exploring ways to fill its coffers, with more tax collection from the public.
Just a day after offering relaxations in the lockdown in the city, the government has already pressed additional taxes on liquor, besides hiking the value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel.