What Delhi needs from its budget today

New Delhi : Back in power after nearly three decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, led by chief minister Rekha Gupta, will present its first Delhi budget on Tuesday. Expectations are high for the new administration, particularly as both arms of governance in the Capital — the elected government and the lieutenant governor — are now aligned under one party. This budget is expected to set the tone for the BJP’s tenure, allowing it to not only plan, but also execute all key policies without the political roadblocks that plagued previous governments.

Despite being the national capital, Delhi grapples with a host of issues that city residents hope will be addressed in the budget. With promises to revamp infrastructure, curb air pollution, rejuvenate the Yamuna, and tackle Delhi’s mounting waste crisis, the budget could mark a turning point for the city. The BJP has long accused the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of failing to deliver on these fronts, and Tuesday’s budgetary allotments and announcements will be a crucial moment to outline its vision for a transformed Delhi. We take a look at the five main issues that the people of Delhi hope the budget will tackle head on.

Delhi’s air crisis

Air pollution remains the city’s most pressing concern. It is perhaps the one issue that affects every city resident – rich or poor, old or young. The BJP’s manifesto made an ambitious pledge: a 50% reduction in pollution levels by 2030. But making that promise is the easy part — delivering on it will require an all-out war against pollution sources.

With Delhi retaining its notorious distinction of being one of the world’s most polluted capital cities, the first budget of the new government gives the party ample opportunity to fix Delhi’s alarmingly high pollution levels.

In its first month, the new government announced plans to deny fuel to vehicles older than 15 years and to make anti-smog guns mandatory for high-rises and commercial complexes to control dust. However, environmental experts argue that these steps alone won’t be enough.

The budget will also need to allocate sufficient funds for mitigative measures such as large-scale plantation drives, and projects that reduce unpaved areas in the city – thus tackling dust. Every time a pothole forms and is later repaired, it releases fine dust into the air. A well-maintained road network could reduce this significantly, experts said.

“We see time and again that roads are repaired as potholes emerge. A technical cell needs to be formed, which will monitor and track progress of roads and ensure they last a fixed time period,” said IIT Delhi professor Mukesh Khare, an air pollution expert.

He said that plantation drives have happened previously, but are often done in an unplanned manner. “Agencies are simply planting saplings wherever land is available, whereas key roads, such as the Urban Extension Road have no trees at all. Ideally, another cell should be created that studies which species need to be planted,” he said.

Delhi’s public transport network, particularly its buses and auto-rickshaws, remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels. While electric buses have been introduced in limited numbers, there is no comprehensive road map for a full transition.

Environmentalists also stressed the need for greater resources for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), which monitors emissions and implements pollution-control measures. “This includes manpower and increased resources for pollution monitoring and enforcement. Mechanised road sweeping and scientific greening should also get due attention,” said Sunil Dahiya, founder of the think-tank Envirocatalysts.

Saving a dying Yamuna

Another issue in Delhi that has been a long-delayed promise by every government in the past few decades has been cleaning the city’s lifeline river – the Yamuna.

In its manifesto, the BJP vowed to rejuvenate the river within three years while tackling Delhi’s chronic water shortages.

The biggest hurdle is the Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) financial crisis. The previous government’s “20,000 litres free water” scheme drained its resources, leaving it struggling to even maintain existing sewage treatment plants, let alone expand capacity, said a DJB official. With a debt-ridden DJB, cleaning the Yamuna will require significant budgetary support.

The previous AAP government had also promised to introduce a bill waiver scheme with over 1.17 million consumers not paying their bills amounting to ₹5,737 crore, according to then CM when announcing the one-time settlement scheme. During the last year’s budget, the water sector was allocated ₹7,195 crore — ₹853 crore higher than the ₹6,342 crore allocated in 2023-24.

Another pressing need for the capital is the allocation of funds to build new water treatment plants. Key among them is the new Chandrawal water treatment plant as well as construction of around 40 decentralised Sewage Treatment Plant (STPs) that will help clean Yamuna.

“Sewage treatment plants and water treatment plants are highly capital-intensive projects. We also need to expand the sewage line network in unauthorised colonies without which Yamuna cannot be cleaned,”the official added.

Presently, Delhi has a water demand of around 1,290 million gallons per day (MGD) and there is a demand supply gap of over 280 MGD.

The BJP in its manifesto has promised to increase water network with ‘har ghar nal se jal’ under the Jal Jeevan Mission, install water ATMs to provide clean drinking water in JJ clusters, enhance Delhi’s water treatment capacity to 1,500 MGD by building new Water Treatment Plants and boost raw water availability.

Even as Delhi’s water supply woes continue, the river too is suffering. Reviving and making the Yamuna cleaner is among the electoral promises of the new government.

Currently, Delhi generates 792 MGD of sewage, of which only 550 MGD is treated. This means that more than 200 MGD of untreated waste flows directly into the Yamuna.

Expanding the city’s sewage treatment infrastructure is crucial, but doing so will require not only money but also strong political will.

“Funds need to be set aside to improve the parameters of our existing STPs to the standards prescribed by the CPCB, while increasing their capacity too. Presently, a number of STPs are not meeting those standards, thus still polluting the river.

This has been a longstanding demand of the Yamuna Action Plan,” said Yamuna activist Bhim Singh Rawat, who is also a member of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP).

Rawat said if funds are set aside for riverfront development, it should be ensured the floodplain is not altered further, adding that connecting the major drains to STPs is another key agenda. “This includes connecting unauthorised colonies, a number of which are still reliant on septic tanks.”

The traffic mess

Despite having a well-connected network of roads, among the best and widest in the country, Delhi remains plagued by perennial congestion.

The rapid development and urbanisation in NCR has also led to the development of satellite towns that add to the traffic volume in Delhi, increasing traffic to a tipping point where the addition of any more vehicles on the roads will completely cripple movement. The sheer number of vehicles — over 7.9 million, as registered in 2023 — has overwhelmed its roads. With every passing year, traffic snarls worsen, increasing commute times and contributing to rising pollution levels.

With a new government, Delhi is hoping for better management of traffic and augmentation of the public transport network, much of which have been promised by the BJP in its manifesto.

The BJP has promised new multi-level parking facilities around major markets such as Sarojini Nagar and Karol Bagh, and better connectivity with neighbouring towns like Gurugram and Noida. “Our vision is to reduce traffic congestion across key areas in Delhi and deliver a world-class, affordable public transport network for its citizens,” the manifesto had said.

However, improving first- and last-mile connectivity for public transport remains a challenge. Many Metro stations lack adequate feeder bus services, forcing commuters to rely on private transport.

The previous budget tried to address the need to augment public transport. It had said that by 2025, Delhi will have more than 10,000 buses, out of which 80% will be electric buses. Last year, ₹510 crore was allotted for electric buses, ₹340 crore was earmarked to continue the scheme of free bus travel for women and ₹500 crore for expansion of Delhi Metro. In total, a budget outlay of ₹5,702 crore was proposed for the financial year 2024-25 to fund Delhi’s public transportation system.

But experts argue that the real issue lies in the city’s outdated traffic management system.

“The Capital faces the challenge of managing this influx of traffic and ensuring efficient movement of vehicles. All highways carry a high volume of traffic, which is discharged on Ring Road and Outer Ring Road, further blocking the circular roads of the city.

There are also vehicles entering the city from across the country through its more than 100 entry points. Hence, the actual traffic volume in Delhi is difficult to ascertain and increasing steadily,” said S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division at the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).

Civic issues and waste management

One of the key issues flagged repeatedly by the BJP during the Delhi elections was poor sanitation, huge garbage mounds and crumbling civic infrastructure in Delhi. With the newly formed BJP government led by the former municipal councillor — Rekha Gupta — and BJP poised to gain the reins of MCD in coming months, the civic body is hoping for an increased allocation in the budget.

For context, MCD faces an acute financial crisis, as indicated by the budgetary documents tabled by the municipal commissioner Ashwani Kumar on February 13. The commissioner warned that MCD is grappling with a very “serious financial crisis” with liabilities of ₹14,000 crore. He also stressed the need for greater financial support from the Delhi government.

Last year, the Delhi government allocated financial assistance of ₹8,423 crore to MCD – an increase of ₹182 crore over the previous fiscal.

The budget comes at a time when the tenure of AAP mayor Mahesh Kumar is drawing towards an end and BJP is the frontrunner to win the next mayoral polls in April. Previously, BJP leaders have blamed the AAP government for underfunding the corporation, while AAP accused the BJP-led MCD of mismanaging its finances. Now, with the BJP in control of both the state government and the municipal body, it will have to find a way to deliver on its promises.

The leader of the opposition in MCD Raja Iqbal Singh said on Friday: “BJP holds more seats in the municipal house than the AAP and in the near future, the BJP government will take charge of the MCD, working hand-in-hand to build a developed Delhi. CM has assured us that any funds due to MCD will be provided.”

Clearing landfills will likely be a top priority, but experts said that focusing only on dumping sites misses the larger problem.

“At the top level, the projects on clearing the garbage mounds and the construction waste processing needs to be brought under focus. The claims of mechanical cleaning of roads have remained on paper and we need more resources with better monitoring,” said Atul Goyal, who heads the RWA federation URJA.

Infrastructure woes

Delhi’s infrastructure is in urgent need of an upgrade. Despite rapid urbanisation, the city still relies on outdated planning models.

The city’s network of roads remains riddled with potholes and plagued by poor maintenance, contributing to traffic congestion, accidents and pollution. A master drainage plan approved in 2009 remains unimplemented, and much of the city continues to depend on a drainage system designed in 1976. The recent floods that submerged parts of the Capital underscored just how vulnerable its infrastructure is.

Experts said that a unified command centre needs to be established to serve as a central authority to coordinate between all agencies.

“Unlike many other cities, Delhi has several agencies that look at different aspects of planning and execution, making it difficult to coordinate efforts… For instance, road design changes need coordination between PWD, MCD, Traffic Police, transport department and more agencies. This coordination is relatively easier if there is a ‘unified authority’ that can drive the decision making and facilitate implementation,” said Prerna Mehta, associate director, urban development, WRI India.

Some of the delayed projects that may get a push in the upcoming budget include Barapullah Phase-3 (delayed by over 10 years), double decker Metro flyover on Brijpuri junction via Karawal Nagar in Gonda, and the flyover on Nand Nagari to Gagan Cinema Junction.

The BJP manifesto promised an “infrastructure overhaul scheme” that would focus on roads, flyovers and foot overbridges (FOBs). The government promised that it would construct additional flyovers, tunnel roads and bypass roads to address congestion at 117 congestion points across Delhi, including Outer Ring Road, MG Road, MB Road and Ashram Chowk.

“Our government will not make any excuses or blame others for the problems related to Delhi’s health, traffic, electricity, water, transport, etc. and will find effective solutions by collaborating with the neighbouring states, MCD, NDMC and the Centre … Delhi will not only symbolise India’s glorious history and rich cultural heritage but also serve as a model of world-class infrastructure, effective law and justice systems, a clean environment and excellent urban services. Through collaboration between the central and state governments, Delhi will lead India’s growth story,” the BJP manifesto stated.

The budget will show the extent to which the party, now in government, is willing to walk the talk.