Koshi Province Government Collects Minimal Revenue in Jestha

Biratnagar. The Koshi Province government's account has seen extremely low revenue collection in Jestha of the current fiscal year 2082/83. According to the Provincial Treasury Comptroller Office, only 483,782 rupees in revenue was deposited into the provincial government's fund throughout Jestha. This is a surprisingly and disappointingly low figure for a provincial government that manages plans worth billions and administrative expenses, with its internal income for one month not even reaching 500,000 rupees. This clearly indicates serious sluggishness in the province's internal resource mobilization or extreme negligence in revenue deposit and data entry by subordinate offices.

According to the report, most of the provincial government's main revenue collection headings were almost stagnant in Jestha. There was zero revenue collection in Jestha from key areas such as land registration fees, value-added tax from distribution, and royalties from natural resources.

Out of the total 483,000 rupees deposited in Jestha, the main share came from vehicle tax (230,100 rupees), forest service royalty (123,564 rupees), transport service income (53,500 rupees), and administrative service fees and others totaling 76,618 rupees.

By the end of Baishakh (over 10 months), the provincial government had collected a total of 29,424,601,254 rupees from federal government grants and internal resources. However, with Jestha's collection limited to just 483,000 rupees, the total revenue received by the end of Jestha stands at 29,425,085,036 rupees. Regarding the reason for such low revenue collection in Jestha, Damodar Khatri, chief of the Provincial Treasury Comptroller Office, stated that the system made a mistake. 'There was a mistake. I will get it corrected and put it up tomorrow,' he said.

The provincial government aims to raise 5.5 billion rupees from its own internal resources. The annual target for federal revenue sharing, which constitutes a large portion of the province's income, is 12.7466 billion rupees. The target for financial equalization grants from the federal government is 8.9834 billion rupees, while the target for conditional grants is 4.571 billion rupees. With a target of 550.72 million rupees for special grants, it was estimated that 391.7 million rupees would come from complementary grants.

However, in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2083-84, the provincial government estimates a total income of 29.3264 billion rupees and a total expenditure of only 24.3264 billion rupees for the current fiscal year.

What is the expenditure situation?

Meanwhile, as the end of the fiscal year approaches, the budget implementation of the Koshi Province government also appears weak. According to data until the end of Jestha, the Koshi Province government has only spent 45.5 percent, or 16.3932 billion rupees, of its total budget. Only one month remains until the end of the fiscal year. The total budget for the current fiscal year for the Koshi Province government, with the addition of conditional grants from the federal government, is 36.021472 billion rupees.

The situation of the province's capital (development) expenditure is even more dire. The government had allocated a capital budget of 17.143480 billion rupees for the current fiscal year. However, by the end of Jestha, only 6.832382 billion rupees (39.8 percent) has been spent. In Jestha alone, the provincial government spent 1.54 billion rupees.

The fact that more than 60 percent of the development budget remains in government coffers after 11 months, when development work should be progressing rapidly, shows the government's indifference towards development. Similarly, in terms of current expenditure, the government has spent 50.67 percent, or 9.5145 billion rupees, of the budget. The government had allocated 18.7779 billion rupees for current expenditure. Of this, 13.607 billion was for current expenditure, 17.1430 billion for capital expenditure, 100 million for financial management, and 5.1765 billion for local level grants.

While the government appears active in operating the administrative machinery, development expenditure, such as physical infrastructure construction, projects that directly benefit the public, and job creation, does not seem to be a priority for the government. This sluggishness until the end of Jestha clearly indicates that the malpractice of 'Asare' development (rushing expenditures at the end of the fiscal year) will be encouraged in Koshi Province this year as well. The government is under pressure to spend a large portion (60 percent) of the total development budget in the short period of Asar.

It has been criticized that the work done in haste to finish the budget in the last month of the fiscal year is of poor quality and increases the risk of financial irregularities.