How assembly decisions shaped the city

Constituting the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), passing the Delhi Electricity Reform bill, and formulating the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)-- these are some of the key decisions that the Delhi legislative assembly has taken in the last 30 years since it was reconstituted in the winter of 1993.

- Alok KN Mishra

Jagdish Mukhi, the then finance minister, presented the first budget in the Delhi legislative assembly on March 8, 1994, in which energy, transport, water supply, sanitation, urban development, education, public health and the welfare of the SC/ST communities were marked as priority sectors. At least 87% of the plan outlay was allocated to these sectors.

"We had made a pledge to the people of Delhi to give them a clean, efficient and responsive government and the time has now come to redeem it. This budget is a small step in that direction," Mukhi stated in his budget speech at the time amid enthusiastic thumping from the treasury benches.

Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel, who was an MLA in 1993, said that in the last 30 years, the assembly has played a pivotal role in the development of Delhi. "But in 2023, the powers of the assembly were taken away by the Centre through an ordinance. This is quite unfortunate," he said.

PK Tripathi, who was the chief secretary of Delhi from 2011 to 2012, said that the need of the hour is cooperative federalism, where the Centre should appreciate the demands of Delhi, and the state government should appreciate the Centre's suggestions.

While the controversy rages, HT has listed 10 bills that paved the way for the creation of institutions or large-scale reforms - between 1994 and 2022.

1994: Delhi Commission for Women (DCW)