Delhi's chief secretary has expressed concern over the slow pace of fund utilization under the 2025-26 revised estimates. He has directed major departments like health, public works, and transport to accelerate spending and ensure 100% utilization. An adverse view will be taken if targets are not met.
Delhi government chief secretary Rajeev Verma recently reviewed fund utilization under the 2025-26 revised estimates (RE) in a meeting with senior officials. He expressed concern over the slow pace of spending in departments like health, public works department (PWD), irrigation and flood control (I&FC), and transport. A senior official quoted Verma as saying, "The government has prepared the RE based on feedback from departments and there must not be any case where the expenditure is not 100% of the revised estimates made now at the fag end of the financial year."
He warned that an "adverse view" would be taken if any department fails to meet the revised expenditure targets. The finance department presented detailed data on revenue and expenditure during the meeting. All administrative secretaries assured that necessary steps have been taken to accelerate spending. Verma also directed all secretaries to undertake weekly monitoring of expenditure.
The 2025-26 budget estimates (BE) allocated a total of Rs 59,300 crore for revenue and capital expenditure. In the first three quarters from April to December 2025-26, Rs 24,651.63 crore – 41.57% – has been spent. For capital expenditure, Rs 23,011.20 crore was allocated in BE, of which only Rs 6,819.84 crore – 29.63% – has been utilized so far. Capital budgets fund infrastructure projects like roads, buildings, schools, and hospitals. In the RE presented earlier this month, the capital outlay was increased from Rs 28,115 crore in BE to Rs 30,248 crore, focusing on roads, transport, education, housing, and urban development. However, allocations under schemes were reduced from Rs 59,300 crore in BE to Rs 57,850 crore in RE, and the revenue budget from Rs 71,884 crore to Rs 69,752 crore. The BJP government had presented an annual budget of Rs 1 lakh crore for this fiscal.
