Deputy CM Manish Sisodia presents Delhi's first paperless budget

New Delhi, Mar 9 () The Delhi government presented its first paperless budget on Tuesday which Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia read out from a tablet computer in the Assembly.

It was the seventh consecutive budget presented by Sisodia, who also holds the Delhi government's Finance portfolio.

Before he headed out for the budget presentation, the deputy chief minister took to social media, saying,

"All set ... Today I am going to present my 7th budget in Delhi assembly under visionary leadership of CM @ArvindKejriwal."

"It would be a paperless budget presentation today. For more on #DelhiBudget2021 ...Stay tuned," Sisodia tweeted.

The Delhi government presented a Rs 69,000-crore budget themed on "patriotism" for financial year 2021-22 on Tuesday, announcing free COVID-19 vaccination for all in its hospitals in the coming phases of the ongoing inoculation drive.

Presenting the budget, Sisodia said it is based on "deshbhakti" (patriotism) as it pays tributes to freedom fighters and hopes to work towards building the capital and the country, as envisioned by them.

Sisodia proposed to allocate Rs 16,377 crore, one-fourth of the total budget, for the education sector, while the health sector got Rs 9,934 crore.

He said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government will celebrate the country's 75th Independence Day and organise programmes for 75 weeks starting March 12.

The city government has proposed to allocate Rs 45 crore to install high masts to hoist the national flag at 500 places in the national capital. AMP IJT