Koshi Province Government Faces Internal Dispute Over Budget Allocation

Biratnagar. The dispute within the ruling parties over the budget presented by the Koshi Province government for the upcoming fiscal year has reached its peak. As a result, the parliament meeting called for Thursday had to be postponed. The secretariat of the parliament issued a notice citing special reasons for the postponement of Thursday's meeting, which has now been rescheduled for the 16th. The budget of 40 billion 44 crore 98 lakh rupees, presented by the Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Bidur Lingthep, on Asar 1, has faced rebellion from ruling party MPs who claim it is unbalanced and favors the influential. MPs stated that the Chief Minister has asked for time to address their strong dissatisfaction. 'We have said that the unbalanced budget must be corrected, otherwise it will not be passed,' said an UML MP. 'It is up to the Chief Minister to correct the budget.' He claimed that whenever the Chief Minister trusted the ministers, an unbalanced budget was presented. 'Three budgets have come since he became Chief Minister. In all budgets, ministers seem to have acted arbitrarily. However, the Chief Minister has not been able to play any role,' the MP said. 'This time, we have made it clear that the budget will not be passed unless it is corrected, so he has become a bit serious. He has said he will fix it.' According to the MP, the government is preparing to correct the budget by bringing a supplementary proposal rather than amending it. However, the need to amend the budget and policy program presented by the government is considered a failure of the government. This scenario is being watched with importance. UML MP and former minister, Rebatimran Bhandari, said that the demands of the MPs could be met through means other than amending 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.' Nepali Congress MP and Chairman of the Finance Committee, Binod Wantawa Rai, who is leading the group dissatisfied with the budget, accused the budget of serious flaws and serving the interests of specific individuals. According to him, this protest is not to overthrow the government but to balance the budget. 'We, along with all the committee chairpersons, have told the Chief Minister before that the budget must be balanced in whatever way possible. If the budget is not balanced, we cannot move towards prosperity. We have raised the issue that the budget preparation process is flawed. We have asked to balance the budget,' he said. 'Before the government falls, the budget must be balanced. It is not our desire for the government to fall.' According to sources, the chairpersons of 4 out of the 7 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 equivalent to a vote of no confidence in the government. However, UML leader and former minister Rebatimran Bhandari believes that the flaws in the budget can be addressed even outside of parliament. Bhandari said that the dissatisfaction can be addressed through a cabinet decision. 'Amending the budget is no longer a process. But if the cabinet deems it necessary, it can cancel plans that were unnecessarily included and send the money back to the consolidated fund. And, the returned amount 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 amounts were cancelled and the remaining money was managed through financial transfer. More than 30 crore rupees were managed this way the year before last.' According to Bhandari, the complaint that ministers take more budget to their areas and neglect other areas after the budget is presented is a normal annual process. He claims that this will be resolved through internal discussions and agreements by the 16th. If the government does not address the demands of the dissatisfied MPs by Asar 16 or does not give a concrete commitment to revise the budget, 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 Committee on Industry, Tourism and Environment, said that anything can happen if the government does 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 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 inequality 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 amended. We will not accept a verbal 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 accuse that 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 that the budget has prioritized only accessible districts like Morang and Jhapa. They believe that the hilly districts of Sankhuwasabha, Taplejung, Khotang, Okhaldhunga, and Bhojpur have been neglected. They said that justice should not be denied, as 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 are piled up in accessible areas. MPs are protesting with data, accusing that a large amount of funds for physical infrastructure has been concentrated in the Chief Minister's district. On Asar 1, the Koshi Province government presented a budget of 40 billion 44 crore 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.