Free Cycles, Bus Travel & More: How Delhi Budget 2026 Puts Women at the Centre

In a strong push toward gender-focused welfare, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday presented the ₹1.03 lakh crore Budget 2026, highlighting a series of pro-women initiatives aimed at mobility, education, and safety.

Calling it a step forward under a “triple engine” governance model, Gupta placed women’s empowerment at the heart of the capital’s development roadmap.

Pro-women announcements by Rekha Gupta

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that around 1.30 lakh girl students studying in class 9 will get cycles for free, while adding that ₹90 crore would be allocated for the scheme.

She further said that the budgetary outlay of ₹260 crore has been earmarked to provide 2 free LPG cylinders to every household on the festivals of Holi and Diwali. Besides this, ₹406 crore for free travel of women in buses. The Delhi government will also give free permits to 1,000 women to run electric autos; they will be provided employment opportunities. 

Gupta said that ₹7,406 crore has been allocated for the Department of Women and Child Development.

The budget earmarked ₹5,110 crore for paying ₹2,500 per month to eligible women beneficiaries under the Delhi government's Mahila Samridhi Yojana. The scheme provides ₹2,500 a month specifically for widows, divorced, separated or abandoned women. 

Other key announcements in the Delhi Budget 2026

Describing the budget as a "green budget", she said that the city is going through a phase of transition. The Delhi government allocated ₹200 crore for EV policy to make the national capital pollution-free. 

She added that the "culture of freebies" impacted the growth rate, adding that the period between 2018 and 2020 saw a fall in revenue. It estimated tax revenue of ₹74,000 crore, while an allocation of ₹11,666 crore has been made for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). 

The chief minister highlighted that Delhi's per capita income is the third highest in the country. On the infrastructure front, ₹5,921 crore has been allocated for the public works department (PWD), whereas urban development and shelter projects have been allocated ₹7,887 crore. 

"Our aim is safe roads, climate corridors and flawless connectivity," Gupta said.

Gupta highlighted a major push for dust-free roads, allocating ₹1,352 crore to facilitate the end-to-end recarpeting of 750 km across the city. To improve connectivity, ₹151 crore has been designated this year to extend the Modi Mill flyover to the Kalkaji and Savitri Cinema intersection—a project with a total estimated cost of ₹371 crore.

Additionally, the government is focusing on aesthetic and functional upgrades by investing ₹200 crore to remove overhead wiring.