Koshi Province Government Faces Internal Conflict Over Budget

Biratnagar. The conflict within the ruling parties over the budget presented by the Koshi Province government for the upcoming fiscal year has reached its peak. Due to this, the provincial assembly meeting called for Thursday had to be postponed. The provincial assembly secretariat had issued a notice postponing Thursday's meeting, citing a special reason. The meeting has been rescheduled for the 16th. The budget of 40 billion 44 million 98 lakh rupees presented by the Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Bidur Lingthep, on Asar 1, has been criticized by MPs from the ruling party itself as unbalanced and focused on the influential, with warnings of rebellion. MPs said the Chief Minister had asked for time to address the strong dissatisfaction of the MPs. 'We have said that the unbalanced budget must be corrected, otherwise it will not be passed,' said an UML MP. 'How the budget will be corrected is the Chief Minister's business.' He claimed that whenever the Chief Minister trusted the ministers, an unbalanced budget had been presented. 'Three budgets have come since he became Chief Minister. It seems the ministers have acted arbitrarily in all the budgets. However, the Chief Minister has not been able to play any role,' the MP said. 'This time, we have said that the budget will not be passed unless we correct it, so he has become a bit serious. He has said, "I will fix it."' According to the MP, the government is preparing to make improvements through supplementary proposals rather than budget revision. However, the need to amend the budget and policy program presented by the government is considered a sign of government failure. Therefore, this scenario is being closely watched. UML MP and former minister Rebatimran Bhandari says that the demands of the MPs can be met through other means without revising the budget. 'There are always dissatisfactions from MPs after the budget is presented. It has come this time as well,' Bhandari said. 'One reason for the postponement of the provincial assembly meeting is that, and another is the long gap in between.' Congress MP and Finance Committee Chairman Binod Wantawa Rai, who is leading the faction dissatisfied with the budget, accused the budget of serious flaws and serving only the interests of certain individuals. According to him, this protest is not to overthrow the government but to balance the budget. 'We, all the committee chairmen, have told the Chief Minister before that the budget must be balanced in any way. If the budget is not balanced, we cannot move forward towards prosperity. We have raised the issue that the budget preparation process has been carried out in a different way. We have been told to balance the budget,' he said. 'We must balance the budget before the government falls. We do not want the government to fall.' According to sources, the chairmen of four out of the seven thematic committees, excluding the one led by the opposition, are unanimous in the need to balance the budget. In a parliamentary system, it is not common practice for the government to directly amend the main document or figures of a budget presented in parliament. Amending the budget is considered a sign of no confidence in the government. However, UML leader and former minister Rebatimran Bhandari says that the flaws in the budget can be addressed even outside parliament. Bhandari said that the dissatisfaction can be addressed through a cabinet decision. 'The budget revision process is not happening now. However, if the cabinet deems it necessary, it can cancel projects that have been unnecessarily included and send the money back to the consolidated fund. The money returned can be addressed through financial transfer,' he said. 'This is not to be amended by the parliament, it can be managed by the cabinet. This has been done before. Last year, the unallocated money was managed through financial transfer. More than 30 crore rupees were managed this way the year before last.' According to Bhandari, it is a normal process every year for MPs to complain that ministers take more budget to their areas and other areas are neglected after the budget is presented. He claims that this will be resolved through internal discussion and agreement by the 16th. If the government does not address the demands of the dissatisfied MPs or give a concrete commitment to revise the budget by Asar 16, the Koshi Province government will certainly face a serious crisis. Dissatisfied MPs from the Nepali Congress and some MPs from the UML have warned of not allowing the parliament to function if the budget is not corrected. Ramdev Yadav, chairman of the Industry, Tourism and Environment Committee, said that anything could happen if the government did not listen to them. 'If there is no discussion, whatever happens, will happen in the parliament,' he said. Meanwhile, MPs from the ruling Nepali Congress met with the parliamentary party leader Uddhav Thapa and pressured him to correct the budget. The MPs warned that they would protest by walking out as soon as the provincial assembly meeting began if the budget was not corrected, prompting leader Thapa to discuss with Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki and have the notice of postponement of the provincial assembly meeting issued. According to Congress MP Binod Wantawa, there was a wide-ranging discussion in the parliamentary party about the flaws and geographical imbalances in the budget. 'We have clearly told our leader - this budget does not reflect the aspirations of the people. Either the budget must be rewritten or revised. We are not going to accept any ad-hoc agreement,' he said. Not only within the Congress, but MPs from the CPN-UML have also expressed strong dissatisfaction with the budget. MPs are also angry that old and important projects have been left in limbo. They allege that the budget has been cut for incomplete projects like roads and bridges in the hilly districts, while new projects have been added in areas of the influential. They accuse the budget of prioritizing only accessible districts like Morang and Jhapa. Districts like Sankhuwasabha, Taplejung, Khotang, Okhaldhunga, and Bhojpur in the mountains have been neglected. They say that there is no budget to solve problems like lack of road networks, absence of bridges over rivers, and monkey menace in the hills, while unnecessary projects have been piled up in accessible areas, and they should not let justice die. MPs are protesting with data, alleging that a large amount of funds has been concentrated in the Chief Minister's district for physical infrastructure alone. On Asar 1, the Koshi Province government had presented a budget of 40 billion 44 million 98 lakh rupees for the upcoming fiscal year 2083/84. Out of the total budget, 13 billion 97 crore 63 lakh rupees were allocated for current expenditure and 20 billion 75 crore 99 lakh rupees for capital expenditure.