Manish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, sought the Centre for a grant of Rs 927 crore on Saturday in order to start special development projects for the national capital's hosting of the G20 meeting. It won't be simple for the Delhi government to spend an extra Rs 927 crore from its limited resources on the G20 summit preparations, Sisodia wrote in a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, news agency PTI reported.
The Delhi government would provide full cooperation to the Centre for a successful hosting of the G20 meeting, according to Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio.
At the G20's annual summit in Bali in November of last year, India took over as the group's presidency, promising to work to ensure that the organisation serves as a global prime mover to envision new ideas and accelerate collective action to deal with pressing challenges.
In advance of the G20 summit later this year, India is organising a number of events and meetings.
The letter read, "In light of the importance of the G20 summit and ... for the G20-related events taking place in Delhi to be held successfully, I request you to provide us with the requisite Rs 927 crore from the central government."
He said it would be very helpful in ensuring that the numerous events and functions of the Delhi government go place without a hitch and that the preparations are finished on schedule.
Over 200 meetings will take place at 55 different venues nationwide in the days leading up to the G20 summit on September 9-10.
Departments of the Delhi government have created a plan for the city's infrastructure development as well as a number of activities and programmes. He mentioned beautification projects surrounding the G20 summit venues as well as holding various activities and programmes at well-known locations in the city.
Sisodia claimed that the Centre has not been paying anything to Delhi as its share in central taxes and also did not provide any additional grant to the city government.
He said that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is not receiving even the money that are distributed to civic bodies in states based on their population.
Hosting the G20 summit is a matter of pride for Delhi, Sisodia said.
He said, "Under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the entire Delhi government will strive to ensure that the foreign guests who arrive here during the G20 summit do not face any trouble."
(With inputs from PTI)