Arvind Kejriwal needs to hire a CA as his conscience keeper to explain to him how government finances work. I wonder what was he doing as an officer in the Income Tax department. The state of New Delhi’s treasury has never been as bad as it is in the run-up to the 2025 elections for the national capital. Safai Karamcharis do not get paid for nine months at a stretch, leading to protests and pile-up of garbage. Teachers and principals are not being hired in public schools due to the Delhi government’s inability to pay their salaries.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Whiney-the-Pooh of Delhi, has constantly blamed the Centre for this alleged hand–to–mouth existence. But the truth is that an audit needs to be conducted to see where these funds are being (mis) appropriated. Are they being diverted for Sheesh Mahals? Are they filling up the coffers of contractors in cahoots with office bearers?
We leave this to you to judge.
State of DTC
The Delhi Transport Corporation or DTC bus, as it is known in popular parlance, is the heartbeat of the city’s connectivity. It is an old staple of Delhi, and I have extensively travelled in the U-specials during my college days to commute to the North Campus. The DTC also used to provide school bus services, which have been pulled out in recent years due to a paucity of buses.
In the 10 years of AAP governance, there has been no improvement or upgradation in the existing fleet. Under Sheila Dixit’s leadership, old diesel buses in DTC’s signature green and yellow colour scheme, which were falling apart, were replaced with the spanking new low-floor, CNG–powered vehicles. This brought about a fresh new era in public transportation and gave DTC a much-needed facelift.
A Times of India report tracks the reduction of the DTC fleet from 4,785 in 2012—when Kejriwal took charge—to 3,191 buses in 2023. That year, some 1,300 buses were added under the Central government’s scheme to increase e-mobility. These are a far cry from the over 10,480 buses Kejriwal promised by 2025. Rather, the DTC bus procurement and maintenance scheme (scam) has come under the CBI’s radar for corruption.
The staff of DTC has not been paid for months. Kejriwal government’s claim to widen the fleet—of which 80 per cent will be electric—is also being undertaken by the Central government. It is important to understand that the electric fleet is being deployed by the Centre through its FAME Scheme.
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DJB & tanker scam
The Supreme Court has time and again affirmed that the right to clean water is a fundamental right and duty of the state under the right to life, guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB), responsible for water supply and sewage management in Delhi, faces significant financial challenges.
For FY 2024-25, the Delhi government allocated Rs 7,195 crore, of which DJB has received only Rs 473 crore as of March 2024. Financial losses have increased from Rs 344 crore in 2019-20 to over Rs 1,196 crore in 2021-22. Its debt, exceeding Rs 73,000 crore, highlights severe financial instability.
Delays in auditing financial statements (2018-19 to 2022-23) have further raised concerns about transparency. A special audit uncovered fund mismanagement, with Rs 911 crore in excess sewerage expenditures and Rs 308 crore in water sector misallocations.
Revenue generation is also strained. Additionally, unpaid consumer dues have risen significantly, from 11 lakh in July 2023 to 14 lakh in January 2024.
These issues have disrupted operations, with delays in contractor payments and service delivery concerns. The DJB’s financial woes have drawn criticism and political debate, with calls for better oversight and accountability. Immediate reforms are essential to restore financial health and ensure reliable services for Delhi’s residents.
Also read: Kejriwal wants RSS to act as jury against BJP. His letter to Bhagwat is calculated mischief
Sanitation & garbage disposal
The streets of New Delhi, a constituency where I was MP for 10 years, have never been this dirty. In the morning, you could always see the sweeper wielding a huge broom—a fixture in my lane for years. Now it is more difficult to catch a glimpse of the street sweeper than it is to get darshan of god. The number of cleaning staff has reduced drastically.
A division bench of the Delhi High Court recently pulled up the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for non-payment of wages and retirement benefits to MCD workers. A bench comprising Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain stated that the civic body must “suffer interest”, emphasising that “there is no escape” if it defaults in paying.
Delhi has its own scenic mountains that are a tourist non-attraction: the garbage mounds of Ghazipur, Okhla, and Bhalswa. These towering pinnacles of garbage are home collectively to 22.9 million metric tonnes of rubbish. The AAP government had committed to reducing these gargantuan garbage Goliaths, which remain an eyesore on the landscape of Delhi.
“The focus of Delhi’s existing solid waste management policies is not on curtailing ever-increasing consumption and production but making waste invisible for aesthetic purposes or incinerating it for profit,” wrote professor Aparna Agarwal in her report.
There is complete apathy by the Kejriwal government to reduce this monstrous monolith.
Also read: Gloves off ahead of Delhi elections, why AAP is on the warpath against Congress
Balancing the books
A homemaker is an expert in the art of budgeting—her skills far surpass even those of a finance minister! She manages the household expenses with (in most cases) a single income, dispenses with staff salaries, and produces red envelopes for gifting, while also managing to squirrel something away for a rainy day.
It is therefore shocking to see how in the 10 years of AAP rule, Delhi has gone from a surplus budget of 1.56 per cent in 2015-16 to a financial deficit in 2024-25. (A surplus budget is one where income exceeds expenditure, showing a strong financial position.)
Delhi’s surplus started to decline steadily, falling to 0.85 per cent in 2016-17 and 0.72 per cent the next year. Although there was a brief rise to 0.95 per cent in 2019-2020, it was followed by a substantial drop to 0.19 per cent in 2020-21—before it bounced back to 0.3 per cent. This year, the surplus will likely be negative, for the first time ever.
These numbers highlight a decade-long downward trend, resulting in Delhi facing the spectre of financial deficit. What is alarming is that the Delhi government is seeking a whopping Rs 10,000 crore loan from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) for the current fiscal year. Delhi’s revenue collection has seen a steady fall from 5.38 per cent of GDP in 2014-15 to 3.9 per cent in 2020-21—while the national average stood at 6.27 per cent.
The Delhi government’s recent application for a Rs 10,000 crore loan from the NSSF is not an isolated case. In 2016-17, the government took a loan of Rs 2,896 crore, and the borrowing has steadily increased over the years.
In the past three years, loans totalling Rs 11,000 crore were taken, but now, within just one year, a proposal has been made to borrow Rs 10,000 crore. The AAP government has set numerous records in draining Delhi’s treasury.
The Central government’s grants-in-aid have been propping up the Delhi treasury for the last few years. In 2014-15, grants-in-aid constituted 0.47 per cent of Delhi’s GDP, but by 2020-21, this figure had surged to 1.54 per cent, indicating that reliance on Central government funds has increased threefold during the AAP era.
Instead of focusing on efficient revenue collection—a key indicator of a government’s economic health—opting for a freebie culture has pushed the Delhi budget into a vortex of inadequacy.
Of clinics, schools & liquor
The Delhi government had budgeted Rs 212 crore in the 2024-25 budget announced by interim CM Atishi Marlena. However, most Mohalla Clinics, the much-touted healthcare scheme of AAP, remain shut due to a lack of qualified doctors and non-payment of staff.
Further, an Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) investigation revealed that nearly 65,000 fictitious patients were prescribed tests between February and December 2023. This led to Rs 4.63 crore being disbursed from government funds for fraudulent services provided by two private laboratories.
Of the total registered patients, 63 per cent of contact numbers were either invalid or belonged to individuals who had never visited the clinics. Many tests were linked to fabricated contact details or were repeated. This blatant misuse of taxpayers’ funds is a shamefully corrupt act with no historical precedent.
The Delhi government has faced allegations of corruption in its education sector. In November 2022, the Directorate of Vigilance recommended a probe into a purported Rs 1,300 crore scam involving the construction of classrooms in government schools, citing significant irregularities.
Additionally, in January 2025, CBI registered an FIR against IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai and others for allegedly appointing teachers in Delhi Tamil Education Association (DTEA) schools using fake certificates.
These incidents have raised concerns about the integrity of educational initiatives by the AAP government.
A recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has revealed that the Delhi government’s now-retracted liquor policy resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 2,026 crore to the exchequer in Delhi.
The report highlights significant policy deviations, licensing irregularities, and the neglect of expert recommendations. It also suggests that certain AAP leaders may have received kickbacks linked to the policy, leading to investigations and subsequent arrests of senior AAP figures, including then-chief minister Kejriwal, who was later granted bail. As per the CAG findings, the excise rules were not presented in the Assembly for ratification.
Creating chaos is the natural characteristic of the Aam Aadmi Party, and for this reason, the Prime Minister referred to it as an ‘AAP-da’ (disaster). Delhi must wake up and turn this AAP-da into an avsar (opportunity) so they can about badlaav (change).
Meenakshi Lekhi is a BJP leader, lawyer and social activist. Her X handle is @M_Lekhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)