Sahasrabuddhe demands white paper on Delhi's economy

New Delhi : The Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC), a think tank, has accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government of "misleading" the people over its claim that fiscal deficit of Delhi has improved to a surplus of Rs 113 crore in 2017-18, terming it a "blatant misrepresentation of facts".

In a statement, PPRC Director Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said: "The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on state finances of Delhi government was tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday. And it was reported that the fiscal deficit of Delhi government has improved to a surplus of Rs 113 crore in 2017-18."

"The Delhi Chief Minister is misleading the people of Delhi exploiting even a statutory document by a constitutional body such as the CAG''s report on state finances," he added.

Sahasrabuddhe, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, further cited the CAG report to claim Delhi government has been in profit for five years. "This is a blatant misrepresentation of facts.

The CAG report that the Chief Minister was referring to analyses the period from 2013-14 to 2017-18 whereas the Chief Minister conveniently disguises this fact and claiming that the report speaks of his own term from 2015 to 2020," he said.

Slamming the Delhi Chief Minister, the PPRC Director said that Kejriwal did not think twice about lying on the floor of the Assembly, making a "mockery of the most important institution in our democracy".

Highlighting the period of the CAG report, Sahasrabuddhe said PPRC has recently released a report on Delhi titled "Empty Vessels Make More Noise - A Report on Delhi''s AAP Government".

"The reality behind the fiscal deficit figures of Delhi lies beyond the 2017-18 period that the current CAG audit report considered. From 2017-18, the fiscal deficit has risen astronomically from a Rs 113 crore surplus to Rs 689.16 crore deficit in the 2018-19 (Revised Estimates) and skyrocketing to Rs 5,901.90 crore (Budget Estimates)," he said.

Sahasrabuddhe said that Kejriwal failed to show the true figures to the public. "This means from March 2018, where the CAG report ends, the Delhi government lost control on the fiscal deficit steadily and reached the current levels. When taken fiscal deficit per capita, this is 55 times rise from the 2017-18 levels, that too in less than two years," he said.

Sahasrabuddhe also demanded that Kejriwal government must release a white paper on the latest macroeconomic indicators of Delhi economy.