Lawmakers discuss budget discussions at House of Representatives

KATHMANDU, June 1: Discussions are on, on the budget for fiscal year 2018/19, at the House of Representatives.

Taking part in the discussions, Nepali Congress lawmaker Gyanendra Bahadur Karki commented that the budget which is said to be brought with the goal of materializing the dream of a developed and prosperous nation did not have the fitting programs for the same.

Also the former Finance Minister, Karki said the budget has not given a direction to the economy and it has failed to specify the basis of priorities and trust. The budget has also not been able to infuse a sense of hope among the people.

He criticized the budget for lacking solid base for increasing the foreign investment and employment, saying it contained only distribution-oriented plans. Karki accused the government of attempting to benefit the ruling parties’ cadres through the President Women Upliftment Fund and the Prime Minister Employment Program.

The honor of the high posts should not be dragged into controversy in the name of such programs, he suggested.

Lawmaker Karki objected to the budget for not mentioning the works carried out by the Nepali Congress-led erstwhile government for the benefit of the senior citizens and terminally ill patients.

Agni Prasad Sapkota of the Communist Party of Nepal said that through the budget the government has brought programs and set priority reflecting Nepal’s uniqueness, brought programs of employment promotion, prioritized big projects and planned to open teaching hospitals in every province. He added that although the budget is positive it has generated less enthusiasm among the people as a forward looking leap has not been seen in the policies and programs and the topics committed by the leaders through the election manifestos.

Lawmaker Khaga Raj Adhikari of the same party said the budget has set priority on education, health, employment and physical infrastructure development for building a modern and prosperous Nepal.

He described the budget as forward-looking and oriented towards socialism.
Lawmaker of the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal Mahendra Prasad Yadav said economic prosperity would not be possible without political cooperation. He said the budget did not contain encouraging programs that would create enthusiasm in the province and local levels. He called for allocating the budget to the provinces as per their population size, demanding to form an authority for providing relief to the flood affected people of the Tarai.

Lawmaker of the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal Bimal Prasad Shreebastav said the budget did not include programs for the welfare of the farmers and on increasing agricultural production. Likewise, the budget is silent on the problems of the workers, he added.

He said the Prime Minister’s promise to replace the ropeway bridges (tuin) with suspension bridges across the country has not materialized, adding that the budget was not sufficient for constructing the people’s housing scheme.

Also speaking in the discussions on the budget today, lawmakers Hariraj Adhikari and Maheshwar Jung Gahatraj of the ruling party said the budget was not as per the spirit of federalism.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Dilendra Prasad Badu said people who had high hopes from the ruling parties based on the ‘dreams’ that these parties sold to the people are now upset looking at the budget. The dream of monorail will do nothing to the people who do not get even a paracetamol tablet when they are ill, he said.
Failure to set priority and allocating big budget to the federal level while less to the provinces are the weak points of the budget.

Lawmakers, Radha Gyawali, independent lawmaker Chhakka Bahadur Lama, Laxman Lal Karna, Pradip Yadav, Binod Chaudhary, Jeep Chhiring Lama, Chandra Kanta Chaudhary, Damodar Bhandari, Aman Lal Modi, Ganga Chaudhary Satgaiya, Umesh Chaudhari, Durga Kumari Bishwakarma among others criticized the budget, pinpointing to the points of lapses in it.

Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada had presented the statement of estimated income and expenditure for the fiscal year 2018/19 in the joint session of the Federal Parliament on May 29. Discussions on the budget started at the House of Representatives from May 31.

DISCUSSION OVER BUDGET AT NA

Lawmakers of ruling parties have defended the budget, saying it was positive and reflected the true picture of the national economy while parliamentarians from the opposition parties criticized it citing it was against the sentiments and aspiration of federalism and aspiration.

The government had on May 29 unveiled the budget for fiscal year 2018/19.
Taking part in the discussion at National Assembly, lawmakers– Deepa Gurung and Shnati Kumari GC expressed the view that the budget has immense possibility to materialize the slogan of development and prosperity.

Similarly, Dhana Kumari Khatiwada and Pramila Kumari said that the budget could not give development and prosperity to the country while Khim Kumar Bishwokarma stressed the need of effective implementation of the plans like creating employment to 500,000 youths and modernizing agriculture.

Likewise, Brishesh Chnandra Lal criticized the budget, saying it was brought on the basis of centralized concept while Indu Kadariya complained that that the budget failed to incorporate the issue of smart village.

Saying though the incumbent government is very powerful, it unveiled very weak budget, Anita Devkota said that the budget itself proved wrong to white paper, while Ramprit Paswan said that the budget has not incorporated any plan and program of landless squatters.

Lawmaker Komal Oli supported the budget saying there is not any doubt about its implementation.

Brinda Devi Alemagar and Tara Devi Bhatta criticized the allocation of ‘more’ budget for the Office of Prime Minister instead of local and provincial levels as undermining the spirit of federal setup.

Chakra Prasad Snehi, Kamala Devi Oli and Ram Chandra Rai hailed the budget as something that would help uplift the lifestyle of the people, while Snehi urged the opposition to help implement the budget. The meeting is on. RSS