NA starts discussion on Appropriation Bill

KATHMANDU, July 5: The meeting of the National Assembly (NA), Chairman Ganesh Timalsina read out the letters received from Office of the President on Thursday.

The letters are related to different bills certified by President Bidya Devi Bhandari, which were recently passed by the House of Representatives and National Assembly.

Similarly, discussions on headings of eight different ministries under the Appropriation Bill-2075 have begun in the meeting. The documents include bills on Forests and Environment; Education, Science and Technology; Labor, Employment and Social Welfare; Water Supply; Finance; Urban Development; Energy; Water Resources and Irrigation and Women, Children and Senior Citizen ministries.

Meanwhile, taking part in the discussions, Badri Pandey of the Nepali Congress proposed for slashing the expenditure of Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and made objections to the allocation of very low amount of budget for quality education.

Pandey said that the budget has not given attention to raise education quality in community schools as imagined by the Education Act (ninth amendment) and to establish schools with residential facilities in remote and rural areas.

Presenting a proposal to curtail the expenditure of Women, Children and Senior Citizen Ministry, Tara Devi Bhatta raised questions to the government why it lagged behind from its commitment made during election to increase allowance given to senior citizens.

Similarly, Balram Banskota urged the government to pay attention in budget implementation, saying that the budget would help bring economic prosperity.

Urging the government to pay special attention to increase women’s participation in policy-making level, Binda Devi Ale Rana asked for women-friendly development projects, while Pramila Kumari suggested the government to make the activities of the National Women Commission, Muslim Commission, among other Commissions more effective.

Discussions on heading of eight different ministries under Appropriation Bill are taking place. RSS