Karnali Provincial Government Shows Weakest Budget Execution Record Under Yamalal Kandel's Leadership

Surkhet. The Karnali Provincial Government led by Yamalal Kandel has appeared the weakest ever in budget implementation. With four months remaining in the fiscal year, less than 20 percent of the development budget has been executed.

According to data provided by the Provincial Accounts Controller's Office, out of the total budget of NPR 32.996655 billion brought for the current fiscal year 2082/083, only NPR 6.4816 billion has been spent by the end of Falgun, which is only 19.64 percent of the total budget.

This figure for budget execution is lower than in previous fiscal years. In the last fiscal year (2081/082), the provincial government had executed 22 percent of the budget by this time. The lowest budget execution since 2078/079 has occurred in this fiscal year. With 4 months left until the end of the current fiscal year, over NPR 26.51 billion remains unspent in the government's treasury.

Capital Budget Execution Below 10 Percent

Development budget execution has been a major challenge for Karnali Province since its establishment. Current Chief Minister Yamalal Kandel used to strongly criticize former Chief Ministers Mahendra Bahadur Shahi and Jeevan Bahadur Shahi for failing to implement the budget received primarily as grants from the Federal Government.

However, the status of capital budget execution is very dismal during his tenure. Out of the annual capital budget of NPR 19.9827 billion for the current fiscal year, only NPR 2.591412 billion has been implemented in eight months, which is only 12.97 percent of the total capital budget.

Last year (2081/082), 15 percent of the budget was executed, while 16 percent was executed in 2079/080.

“It is not due to staff shortages or lack of experience like in the past; why has development budget execution decreased?” says a ruling party lawmaker, “It seems unlikely that 60 percent of the budget will be executed in the remaining 4 months.”

However, under these circumstances, the budget allocated for salaries and allowances has been executed by nearly 31 percent. While government employees and ministers regularly receive salaries and service benefits, attention is not being paid to development budget execution.

Among the seven ministries, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development, which has the largest budget of NPR 10.7314 billion, and the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, which has the next largest development budget, have both executed only 14 percent of their respective budgets in eight months.

Government employees and ministers often blame the ongoing agitation and elections.

Questions Raised Over Government Capacity

Serious questions were raised in the parliament meeting held on Thursday regarding the government's weak pace. RPP lawmaker Santoshi Shahi stated that the fact that only 12 percent of the development budget has been executed so far is an indicator of the government's failure.

“We always blame the center, saying the budget is insufficient, or there are no resources,” she questioned, “But the question is, why couldn't the allocated budget be spent? Is the problem with resources or incompetence?”

She argues that those in government cannot evade responsibility by citing the ongoing agitation or using elections as an excuse. “The public wants results now, not excuses,” she said.