Kathmandu. The state assembly itself has become a ‘hostage’ due to the dissatisfaction of the ruling MPs regarding the budget and program presented by the state government for 2083/084. Contrary to the tradition of discussing the budget immediately after the announcement of the budget on June 1, even after two weeks have passed, the debate on the budget has not started in Sudurpaschim, Karnali, Lumbini and Koshi provinces.
In these four provinces, there has been obstruction of MPs from the ruling party. Even till Tuesday, it has not been decided when the discussion on the budget will start in these provinces. In Madhesh province, the budget discussion is scheduled to start from Wednesday. The discussion about next year’s budget is going on in Bagmati. Gandaki’s budget has been passed by majority. The Bagmati government submitted a budget of 66.93 billion 33 lakh 33 thousand rupees for 2083/084.
Due to lack of agreement between the ruling parties regarding the budget, the state assembly complex in Far West has been deserted for two weeks. The UML is the power partner in the Congress-led government. The discussion has become uncertain after UML rejected the budget brought by itself and took the stand to register the amendment proposal. Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah is also confused after UML demanded to revise the budget.
Chief Minister Shah admits that there are technical errors in the budget. He says that there is an internal discussion with the UML leader on how to correct those errors. According to the UML MP, there was no dialogue between the Chief Minister and the UML MP in this regard. “There is still time for discussion,” he said, “we will pass within June.”
UML parliamentary party deputy leader Santosh Kumari Sharma Thapa said that there is no initiative regarding the state assembly meeting and discussion on the budget. “There is dissatisfaction with the budget everywhere,” she said, “even the leader of our party is currently in Kathmandu.”
With the beginning of June, MPs of the subject committees of the State Assembly are on various tours. According to the Secretariat of the State Assembly, MPs from the Social Development Committee, Economic Development and Natural Resources Committee, Legislation and Provincial Affairs Committee are on a visit outside the province. The Public Accounts Committee is preparing for the visit.
“There is no preparation for conducting the meeting,” State Assembly Secretary Dev Bahadur Bogti said, “There is no agreement between the ruling parties.” In the Council of Ministers, UML has led the ministries of Physical Infrastructure, Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives and Internal Affairs and Law. The Congress has headed the ministries of Economic Affairs, Social Development and Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment along with the Chief Minister.
Even during the preparation of the budget, UML had prepared to leave the government expressing dissatisfaction with the allocation. However, after UML finally agreed, Economic Affairs Minister Vikramsingh Dhami, represented by Congress, submitted the budget in the state assembly at midnight on June 1.
The UML decided to file an amendment proposal saying that the budget was presented insufficiently, that it was against the principles of the appropriation bill, that the ministerial allocation was not kept, and that the plan selection criteria were violated. Although Minister Dhami mentioned that a total budget of 37 billion 700 million has been introduced, the budget statement booklet released only a day later mentions 37 billion 70 million 39 lakh 66 thousand. On the day the government presents the budget, the MPs of the opposition party CPN claimed that the Appropriation Act, Economic Act, Budget Statement, Expenditure Estimates, and Medium Term Expenditure Structure, which should be submitted to the Provincial Assembly Secretariat, have not been tabled in the Provincial Assembly so far.
The political circles of the Koshi region are also in waves after the MPs of the ruling party protested against the budget presented by their own government and warned of blocking the parliament. Due to this dissatisfaction, the state assembly meeting was adjourned on Thursday. After Economic Affairs and Planning Minister Vidur Lingthep announced the budget of 40 billion 449 million rupees, the ruling Congress and UML MPs have been accusing the budget of being unbalanced, accessible and focused on specific areas and individuals. They are pushing for ‘balancing’.
In the parliamentary system, the debate on whether or not the budget can be amended once it has been submitted to the parliament is intense. According to experts in parliamentary affairs, there is no practice of amending the budget after it becomes the property of the parliament. There is only provision for passing or rejecting the budget. Former Minister and UML MP Revathiraman Bhandari said that although the budget amendment is not possible through the Parliament, some plans can be canceled through the decision of the Council of Ministers and the demands of the dissatisfied parties can be addressed through financial transfer. According to him, similar practice has been taking place in the past as well.
“Budget revision is not possible now, but the Cabinet can cancel some plans that it deems necessary and send money back to the reserve fund and it can be redistributed through financial transfers,” said Bhandari. Dissatisfied with the budget, MPs have claimed that they are not in favor of overthrowing the government but trying to balance the budget.
Congress MP and Chairman of the Finance Committee Vinod Vanthawa Rai alleged that there was a serious error in the budget preparation process and said that an inclusive and balanced budget is necessary. The ruling MPs have also launched a signature campaign expressing dissatisfaction with the budget. Congress deputy leader Himal Karki has claimed that 27 MPs have already signed.
However, the minister from the government side argues that it is against the parliamentary values for MPs from their own party to stand against the budget. According to them, if there is a situation where the party whip is violated on a sensitive issue like the budget, it can lead to a political crisis. The leader of the opposition party, Indra Bahadur Angbo, also stated that the budget amendment is not an easy matter and is of the opinion that the disaffected parties can be addressed through financial transfer.
Discussions on the budget in Lumbini remain inconclusive. A possible agenda was set for starting the discussion on the budget from Wednesday. However, it was postponed again at the last moment on Tuesday. After discussions with the government, the Provincial Assembly Secretariat had decided the possible agenda from the meeting of the Working Arrangements Consultative Committee to convene the 11th meeting of the eighth session on Wednesday.
However, the meeting scheduled for Wednesday has become uncertain again after the disgruntled state assembly members of Chief Minister Chetnarayan Acharya’s party UML did not participate in the discussion on the budget and did not give up their opposition in the meeting. State Assembly members of the ruling party UML have been taking a stand not to allow the budget to be passed saying that there are serious errors in the budget.
On June 11, Speaker Tularam Ghartimagar adjourned the meeting of the Provincial Assembly until further notice after the members of the ruling party did not allow the discussion on the budget. Dissatisfied with the budget, the state assembly members of the Congress accepted the weakness in the budget in the parliamentary party meeting and agreed on the decision to pass the budget. After the decision of the Congress, at the request of the government, Speaker Gharti called the 11th meeting of the eighth session of the state assembly for 1 pm on Wednesday. However, that too has been postponed, said the secretary of the state assembly, Durbham Kumar Pun.
The Lumbini state government announced a budget of 37.38 billion on June 1. In the government’s budget, the plan was requested by providing a budget ceiling of 4 crores for directly elected provincial assembly members from 52 constituencies of Lumbini and 2 crores for proportional provincial assembly members.
17 days after the Madhesh government announced the budget, the state assembly is ready to discuss it from Wednesday. The State Assembly Secretariat has called a meeting of the State Assembly on Wednesday afternoon. The state government has brought a budget of 41 billion 1386 million rupees. Finance Minister Yuvraj Bhattarai presented the income-expenditure of the upcoming financial year in the state assembly meeting held on June 1.
In the state assembly meeting held on the same day, Finance Minister Bhattarai tabled the estimated budget of revenue and income for the financial year 083-084 and submitted the financial bill. The Speaker of Madhesh Province, Ram Ashish Yadav, requested to get the estimated budget of revenue and income from the ‘pigeon hole’ or ‘website’ and the next meeting of the adjourned state assembly has been called for Wednesday.
The State Assembly Secretariat sent an SMS saying that a meeting has been called on June 12 afternoon to discuss the budget. Soon after sending another SMS, the secretariat informed that the meeting will be held on Saturday, June 13 at 1 o’clock. According to the Secretariat of the State Assembly, as per the business given by the government, the meeting of the State Assembly was called on June 12 and later on June 13, but the meeting was postponed at the request of the government.
Last Thursday, the main opposition party CPN blocked the Karnali Provincial Assembly meeting. The CPN blocked the parliament meeting saying that a random scheme was chosen in the budget. Since then, the parliament session has been interrupted and sitting. The state assembly meeting was postponed on Tuesday also after opposition parties protested. The state assembly secretariat was planning to pass the budget on Tuesday.
Karnali government has brought a budget of 35 billion 39 crore 85 lakh 48 thousand rupees. Now the meeting will be held from 1 o’clock on Wednesday, according to the Secretariat of the State Assembly. “Discussions on the budget are being affected due to the opposition’s opposition,” said Netra Bahadur Karki, the spokesperson of the Provincial Assembly Secretariat.
Since the Budget was introduced on June 1, the meeting of the Karnali State Assembly has been sitting for only 5 days. According to spokesperson Karki, although the meeting was held on June 4 and 5, there was not much discussion. Since then 12th, 13th and 14th meetings were also held. But the meeting ended with the protest of the opposition, according to the state assembly secretariat.
In the Karnali Provincial Assembly, there is a disagreement between the ruling party and the opposition party every year during the budget. Last year, the budget was passed by the majority amid the protests of the opposition party, while the previous year, the budget was presented and passed amid the sloganeering of the opposition party.
Mangal Bahadur Shahi, the leader of the CPN Parliamentary Party, said that he disagreed with the ruling party because they would move forward by ignoring the opposition and trying to pass wrong things under the guise of majority. UML chief whip Tekraj Pachhai alleged that the opposition party is looking for a scapegoat.
The Gandaki State Assembly has passed the budget of 32 billion 999 million rupees brought by the government for 2083/84 by a majority. The budget was passed on Sunday after a long discussion and ministerial response on the allocation and finance bill presented by Economic Affairs Minister Jit Bahadur Sherchan on June 1.
Chief Minister Surendraraj Pandey, Economic Affairs Minister Sherchan and Physical Infrastructure Minister Gobind Bahadur Nepali answered the questions raised by the MPs in the meeting. Chief Minister Pandey informed that according to the decision of the federal government, an additional budget of around 1 billion rupees has been arranged to provide dearness allowance to the contract employees of the state from next year. In the meeting, the proposal of CPN MP Damayanti Ruchal and Kusum Budha to cut expenses was rejected by the majority.