Lawmakers unhappy with budget in Koshi

By Shashidhar Parajuli, Biratnagar, July 6: The leader of the main opposition in the Koshi Provincial Assembly, Indra Bahadur Angbo, has raised serious concerns over the provincial government's budget, describing it as directionless and based on crony capitalism.

Speaking during the special hour at the Assembly on Sunday on behalf of the opposition in the Provincial Assembly, Angbo also questioned the legitimacy of the budget and the government's competence. "When the chief minister himself has publicly admitted that the budget has gone wrong, what is the point of debating it here? And how can members of the Provincial Assembly be expected to carry forward a budget that has already been declared flawed?"

"For the first time in history, we have heard the head of the government publicly announce that the budget has gone wrong," he said. "The activities witnessed during the budget approval process and the promises that were made will lead to fiscal disorder."

During the discussion on the budget, ruling party lawmaker Buddhi Kumar Rajbhandari also took a swipe at the government's financial plan, expressing confidence that the budget would eventually be corrected. Criticising the ministers, he remarked that they suffered from ‘short-sightedness’, seeing only what was close at hand while ignoring the concerns of people living in remote districts.

"The ministers can only see what is nearby, but they fail to see the problems of the province's remote districts and their people," Rajbhandari said. He argued that it was unjust to apply the same approach to remote districts such as Solukhumbu, where transport costs substantially increase the cost of development projects compared with accessible areas.

Although heated exchanges over the budget dominated the discussion on the Appropriation Bill and the special hour, lawmakers used the zero hour to raise public concerns.

Lawmaker Meena Shrestha drew the government's attention to the poor condition of the road leading to Barahakshetra, saying that pilgrims lose their lives there every year because of the deteriorating road. She also urged the government to launch a water supply project in the area. Local people have been forced to rely on a 30-year-old water supply system that provides muddy water.

Similarly, lawmaker Sabina Bajgain said residents of Mechinagar in Jhapa district were facing growing insecurity due to elephants entering from India. She called on the government to allocate additional funding and introduce long-term programmes to address the problem.

Lawmaker Sapana Pariyar said that although Nepal is generating 4,300 megawatts of electricity, consumers are still not receiving a reliable, high-quality power supply. She urged the government to improve electricity supply, noting that not only households but also industries were suffering from low voltage, frequent tripping and load shedding. She added that the federal government should take the necessary initiatives to resolve these issues.

Meanwhile, Chhabilal Chudal of the CPN-UML argued that the imbalance in the budget was merely a continuation of a long-standing practice and should not be exaggerated.

"The tradition of producing minister-centric budgets was established by previous governments. What we are seeing now is simply the fruit borne by that tree. There is no need to make an issue of it," he said.