NEW DELHI: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday lauded the ‘Outcome Budget’, asserting that it helped the AAP government usher in reforms in Delhi.
At the National Conference on Outcome Budgeting organised by Delhi’s Dialogue and Development Commission, Sisodia said this revolutionary idea is the most important part of the Aam Aadmi Party government, which, he claimed, focuses not only the output but also the outcome of various schemes of the government.
The government had selected a set of quantifiable Output and Outcome indicators. Launched by the AAP government in 2017-18, the Outcome Budget attempts to address the deficiencies of a usual Budget.
The outcome budget helped in removing bottlenecks to improve the delivery of services and goods to people of Delhi, Sisodia said.
“I consider outcome budget as the biggest achievement of our government in the past four and a half years in the field of governance.”
The Outcome Budget tracks the performance of 567 schemes and programmes of the Delhi government through nearly 2,000 quantifiable indicators.
The report shed light on one of the most important performance areas of the Delhi government — transport — where it was revealed that the 1,000 electric buses, which were expected to be seen plying on road by this year-end, was delayed as the tender floated for the procurement of these buses.
According to the government, this was delayed due to the Model Code of Conduct enforced in March for the general elections. This step was envisioned to curb air pollution in the national capital, but the scheme seems delayed with no response from companies.
“We were voted to power by the public not just because they wanted some CEO to manage the government. People want leaders. For this government, more than output, ‘outcome’ matters. Outcome Budget is the force behind the big-ticket reforms by the Delhi government in power and water supply, education and health services and the doorstep delivery of services,” said Sisodia.
“In the next couple of decades, outcome budgeting will emerge as a baseline for reforms in the governance area.”
Water supply
Delhi Jal Board laid water pipelines in 144 unauthorised colonies during fiscal 2018-19, falling way short of the target of 291. Govt has set a target of laying pipelines in 151 colonies, including the 147 pending from last year.
Bus transport
Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) showed depleting fleet and dwindling earnings of the public transporter. The bright spot was cluster buses run under Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) that showed growth in annual earnings
Wi-fi service
Govt will not be able to fulfil the promise of providing free wi-fi as the Outcome Budget has set September 2020 deadline for the project. The expected date for issue of the request for proposals (RFP) is September 30, 2019