Gandaki Province Government Faces Scrutiny Over Unrealistic Budget

Pokhara. Lawmakers have raised questions in the Public Accounts Committee, stating that the budget to be presented by the Gandaki Province Government is not realistic. They question the practice of presenting a deficit budget every year by adding only unnecessary plans. Lawmakers have alerted the Ministry of Finance, stating that the practice of including internal loan figures, which are never collected, and the failure to collect revenue as targeted, has led to a deficit budget situation year after year. The provincial government is preparing the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing in the Public Accounts Committee regarding the seventh report of the Auditor General. During the discussion, lawmakers suggested making the upcoming year's budget realistic. 'The federal government has not made a law to take internal loans. Has the province made a law?', questioned committee chairman Sudhir Kumar Poudel, 'What is the basis for being able to raise that internal loan?' Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dilliram Rizal, admitted that the figure for internal loans is included only to increase the size of the budget. 'Internal loans are not to be taken. So far, it has only been included to increase the size of the budget,' he said, 'Internal loans are not collected at all. But it has not been left out of the budget.' Lawmakers have also questioned internal income. Lawmaker Pancharam Gurung said that the government has been failing to find sources since the past. 'The target is 5 billion per year, but even 3 billion has not been collected. Let's aim to collect 10 billion,' he said, 'If our internal resources are strong, we can fully utilize the rights given by the constitution. We have many bases for increasing our revenue, but they are not being focused on.' In response, Finance Minister Jit Bahadur Sherchan pledged to include areas outside the tax net rather than burdening the public by increasing taxes. 'The development of the province is not possible without strengthening our internal resources,' he said, 'Our focus will be on widening the tax net and controlling leakage. Revenue from sectors like transport and land revenue will be made more effective and transparent.' Deputy Secretary Rizal also said that the amount collected is less because the scope is not wide. 'It is true that income has not been fully realized according to our assessment based on our province's internal resources,' he said, 'Actually, Gandaki's income is low. Due to low income, the capacity to spend has also weakened.' Gandaki had set a target of 5.73 billion in internal income last year, but only collected 3.52 billion. Internal income has not met the target in any year. The committee has concluded that there is a budget deficit of approximately 10 billion rupees. The Public Accounts Committee has questioned the Gandaki Province government on budget preparation and implementation. Questions have been posed to the government ranging from the budget not being realistic to a lack of attention to implementation. They consider the delay in determining the budget ceiling on time, delays in the implementation of programs, and insufficient budget allocation for provincial pride projects as the main problems. 'Due to the budget ceiling not being set on time, the concerned ministries and bodies have not been able to advance their programs in a planned manner. This has obstructed the overall development process,' says Chairman Poudel, 'Is the Ministry of Finance or the Planning Commission dominant in setting the ceiling?' Another lawmaker, Bed Bahadur Gurung, also states that the distribution of the ceiling has not been addressed at a policy level. 'When giving the budget ceiling, the Planning Commission should provide it within this framework by addressing the policy,' he said, 'Employees try to dominate that. This is a problem.' Deputy Secretary Rizal says that the system of providing ceilings in Gandaki is different from other provinces. 'It is different here than in all of Nepal and other provinces. The budget ceiling should be provided by the ministry, but currently, the Provincial Planning Commission sends the budget ceiling and distributes and provides that ceiling to the thematic ministries,' he said. He stated that it is being continued according to the budget formulation guidelines. 'Now, efforts are being made to amend it and have the Ministry of Finance distribute the ceiling,' he said. Lawmakers criticized provincial pride projects as being merely for show. 'Resources were not managed to complete provincial pride projects on time. It is always stated in policies and programs that provincial pride projects will be prioritized. But there is not enough budget for pride projects either,' they say, 'Why does this happen every year? If they cannot be implemented, how did they become pride projects?' In response, the ministry says, 'We have limited resources and we are compelled to ensure balanced development in various sectors. Therefore, it is difficult to provide the required budget for all pride projects at once.' Finance Minister Jit Bahadur Sherchan has pledged that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year will be realistic and implementable. Responding to the questions raised by the lawmakers in the meeting, he clarified that the shortcomings of the past will not be repeated in budget preparation. 'In the past, there was a problem of budgets being allocated to unprepared projects based on access, but they were not implemented,' he said, 'Now, no plan that is not in the project bank and does not have a detailed project report (DPR) prepared will receive a budget.' He also pledged to address the past budget deficit in provincial pride projects and not to enter into multi-year contracts without securing resources. Sherchan claims that the tradition of including internal loans in the upcoming year's budget will be broken. 'We are not in favor of bringing a large-sized budget that is unrealistic and cannot be implemented,' he added, 'The upcoming budget will be built on a realistic foundation. We are trying to bring a balanced budget based on our resources and spending capacity.' The Ministry of Finance has committed to the committee to strengthen monitoring to solve the problem of non-expenditure of supplementary and special grants going to local levels and to move forward by creating a timely budget implementation schedule to discourage the trend of 'Asare' development (development only in the last month of the rainy season).