New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) Delhi government's Finance department has capped spending for April to 5 per cent of the total 2025-26 budget, officials said on Wednesday.

According to an order, the department has issued demands for grants for financial year 2025-26 for incurring expenditure following approval.

"Considering the mapping of expenditure with the resources of Government of NCT of Delhi and for better cash management, the expenditure during the month of April 2025 is capped at 5 per cent of the total budget allocation in budget estimates 2025-26 under the respective budget heads," the order said.

Mapping of expenditure and resources is a regular practice for efficient financial management to prevent overspending and underspending under various heads, a senior officer from the Finance department said.

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Atishi criticised the cap and to allege that Rs 1 lakh crore budget was a "Hawa Hawai" (empty talk).

She claimed that no department is allowed to spend more than 5 per cent of its total budget in April.

With the restriction, the government can only use Rs 5,000 crore in the first month and, at this rate, will be able to spend just Rs 60,000 crore for the entire year -- far short of the Rs 1 lakh crore it promised, she claimed.

"When there's no real money, there can be no real spending and the BJP government's own directive has exposed its grand budget as nothing more than a gimmick," the Aam Aadmi Party leader said.

The Finance department stated expenditures to be incurred on salaries, allowances, and wages, will be exempt from capping of 5 per cent for April.

In addition, expenditures relating to salaries of outsourced staff, security and sanitation, electricity and water supply, telephone, postage charges and maintenance of staff cars, are also exempt, it said. PTI VIT VIT VN VN

Expenditure cap limits April spending to a fixed share of the annual budget with specified operational exemptions. The Finance Department limited April disbursements to five percent of each budget head's annual allocation to align expenditure with projected resources and improve cash management, requiring mapping of outlays to receipts. Payments for salaries and allowances and certain operational costs, including outsourced staff salaries, security and sanitation, utilities, communications and vehicle maintenance, are exempted from the cap.