The Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday briefed the media and spoke about the revenue received by the state during the lockdown. He said that the state received only 300 crores as revenue.
In the press briefing, Arvind Kejriwal informed that not more than 50 people will be allowed at wedding functions and similarly, not more than 20 people will be allowed to attend the last rites of a deceased person. He added that,
“The Center’s decision of lockdown on March 24 was very important. If we had not implemented the lockdown, then the situation in the country could have been horrific now. That time the country was not ready to fight COVID-19. We had no idea of social distancing. Neither the people nor hospitals were ready. We had no personal protective equipment kits or testing kits either.”
300 crore revenue this year
Shedding light on the economy part of the Delhi government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that there isn’t much revenue left with the government and will be difficult for it to sustain the lockdown. He said,
“The revenue has fallen from 3,500 crores in the month of April of the previous years to 300 crores as of now this year. How will the government function?”
It has been over 40 days since India has officially shut its businesses. Some of the businesses, as a precautionary measure, had shut before the announcement of the nationwide lockdown. India’s informal sector that has no option of operating from home has come to a halt. As per the statistics, 190 million Indians work in the informal sector. As most of it is non-contracted jobs, it is highly unlikely that people have retained their jobs. The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy has estimated 30.9 percent of unemployment in the urban areas alone. Apart from unemployment, massive pay cuts for employees have also kept less money in the pockets of the spending class.
As per the latest update, there are a total of 4,549 positive cases from the National Capital Region. 64 people have been deceased due to the deadly disease. 1,362 people have successfully recovered from COVID-19 and that leaves the region with 3,123 active cases.
Source: Livemint
