Criticism mount as the 'Red Book' of Sudurpaschim province leaked

Dhangadhi: Following the leak of the Sudurpaschim government's program booklet (Red Book) prior to its formal release, the ruling party has started to criticize the administration.

Some object that their plans were left out of the publicly published Red Book, while others claim that significant materials were revealed without prior discussion.

Regarding the Red Book, the government has not taken an official position. But the Red Book's digital version (PDF), which has been making the rounds, has been condemned by Economic Affairs Minister Surendra Pal as being phony and unofficial.

Ratopati was told by Minister Pal that the Red Book that was released was a hoax and not official. The government is in the process of holding discussions and will shortly release its official stance.

Suspicion is growing that the administration is brushing the Red Book off as "fake" in order to avoid controversy as the opposition Nepali Congress has joined demonstrations against it and disagreements are also emerging within the ruling party.

The CPN (Unified Socialist) provincial party's deputy head, Prakash Rawal, said, "This Red Book belongs to the government." Public distribution is not a huge worry, but it is wrong to distribute it without debate."

The Red Book of the Sudurpaschim government, according to the Congress, has not been officially made public.

Speaker of Sudurpaschim Province Bhim Bhandari has also expressed disapproval of the Red Book's publication, claiming that the budget cannot successfully advance the growth and prosperity of the Far Western Province. He declared that he will deal with this matter in the provincial assembly meeting.

"Regarding the Sudurpaschim Budget: If implemented as presented, it will not support overall development and prosperity in the Far West," he said in a social media post. I'll talk more about this at the next assembly meeting.

Minister of Government Physical Infrastructure Kailash Chaudhary has voiced significant objections to the budget, highlighting the gravity of making it public before debate. He said that the budget does not reflect the intentions of the Chief Minister and the Minister of Economic Affairs, and he urged that they accept accountability.

Chaudhary declared, "The projects we suggested for the sake of the people are not carried out by the budget. We find this budget unacceptable if it is the case. The Minister of Finance and the Chief Minister need to accept accountability."

On June 15, Economic Affairs Minister Pal proposed a budget of 31.63 billion in the provincial assembly during the presentation of the budget statement for the upcoming fiscal year (2081/082).

After the digital program booklet was released, protests broke out, leading the Nepali Congress to challenge the government's moral standards. The head of the Congress Parliamentary Party and former chief minister Kamal Bahadur Shah has also demanded the resignation of the chief minister.