Koshi Government Faces Internal Criticism Over Budget Allocation

Biratnagar. During the discussion on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2083/84, a spectacle has been observed in the Koshi government. While discussing the budget ministry-wise and until the ministers' responses concluded, ministers who remained in the government criticized each other. Some ministers praised the opposition leaders, while ruling party MPs criticized the government itself.

Generally, the budget, policy, and programs, and special addresses brought by the government in the past used to be subjects of positive publicity for the ruling party MPs. This time, however, MPs from the ruling side themselves criticized the programs brought by the government. By the time it was time to respond, Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki could not even muster the courage to answer questions by going to the rostrum.

Ministers gave helpless answers to the questions raised by MPs regarding the pile of petty schemes, regional imbalance, and arbitrary distribution of the budget. The most spectacle during the budget debate was seen in the exchange between Social Development Minister Ram Prasad Mahato and Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Pradeep Kumar Sunuwar.

Minister Mahato, from the government itself, strongly attacked the budget distribution system of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Minister Sunuwar's working style in the parliament itself. He stated that due to the narrow thinking of considering only physical infrastructure as development, social sector and human resource development have been overshadowed, calling the budget of his own government unbalanced. 'The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure has snatched away the entire portion of the budget, while a sensitive sector like social development has been left dry,' he said in anger. He added, 'With such an unbalanced budget, the overall and sustainable development of the province can never be achieved.' This is a rare incident where Mahato publicly criticized his own cabinet colleague in parliament.

In defense, Minister of Physical Infrastructure Development Pradeep Kumar Sunuwar not only expressed helplessness but also stated that he was under immense pressure to prepare the budget. He said that in his 42-year long political career, he had never been in such a situation before. 'There is a pile of 27,500 schemes in the ministry's scheme bank, and my table alone received 13,500 petty schemes,' he said in parliament. 'There was a compulsion to address so many petty aspirations with a limited budget.' He stated that all local levels, MPs, and stakeholders pressured him to include their respective schemes. He admitted that in some districts, the budget was concentrated based on the minister's influence but tried to cover it up by citing population as a reason. 'The constitution itself states to consider population as a basis, so it is natural for larger districts to have more budget,' he said. He stated that duplicated and unrealistic schemes would be postponed or transferred after the budget is passed, which is prevented by laws, acts, and procedures. Audit reports have repeatedly suggested preventing such transfers.

While responding, Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Bidur Kumar Lingthep, expressed anger in parliament by criticizing past governments and former ministers. He admitted that there were weaknesses in the budget but blamed all of them on past governments and former ministers. 'We have not forgotten how former ministers arbitrarily made budgets in the past, how they pulled schemes out of their pockets and distributed them,' he said. 'Those who made arbitrary budgets in the past have no right to lecture us on policy and procedure today.' Minister Lingthep, who had previously stated that the budget would bring innovation, also admitted to continuing the old pattern. He claimed that the mistakes in the budget would be corrected before implementation but could not provide a satisfactory answer as to how the budget went wrong policy-wise.

Jointly responding on behalf of the Chief Minister's Office and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Minister Lingthep refuted the MPs' allegations that the budget was soulless or irrelevant. 'Budgets come every year, this is the ninth budget of Koshi Province, but there is no history of anyone praising it in parliament as being 100% balanced,' said Minister Lingthep. He cited examples of past governments also admitting to budget weaknesses and recalled the history where the budget for fiscal year 2077/78 had to be cut by half in the first quarter. Claiming that the current government showed the courage to correct it, he said, 'We have proudly accepted our weaknesses and commit to correcting any duplication or unexpected petty schemes before the budget goes into implementation.' He asserted that this budget is more balanced geographically, socially, and thematically than the previous ones.

Meanwhile, Minister of Water Supply, Irrigation, and Energy, Tilchan Pathak, openly praised the opposition leaders while ministers within the cabinet were criticizing each other over the budget. He praised the questions raised by opposition leader Indrabahadur Angbo and other MPs on the budget as very mature and creative. 'I want to thank our friends from the opposition for their constructive criticism, understanding the sensitivity of the budget,' he said.

Health Minister Man Bahadur Limbu also spoke more about the lack of budget despite talking about hospital upgrades. He stated that although Udayapur District Hospital has a capacity of 50 beds, it currently has to operate 83 beds, and there is a shortage of manpower and budget for it. He defended his work by mentioning that 20 crore rupees have been allocated to make Dhankuta District Hospital the teaching hospital of Manmohan Technical University.

Minister of Industry, Agriculture, and Cooperatives, Israel Mansuri, also failed to bring any new perspectives to the agricultural sector budget beyond traditional talk. He spoke about cardamom, tea, coffee, and Akbare chili but diverted from the issue of farmers not receiving timely fertilizer, seeds, and subsidies. 'We have talked about technology transfer for farmers,' he claimed.

Minister of Tourism, Forest, and Environment, Bhim Parajuli, spoke of the prosperity of Koshi Province but defended the allocation of budget to petty temples and stupas by calling it cultural promotion. 'We have allocated 12 crore 12 lakh rupees for tourism promotion, and this year, sports tourism has been given special priority,' he said. He mentioned that budget was allocated to major areas like Barahakshetra and Ram Mandir in Chatara but ignored the question raised in parliament that budget was distributed to petty schemes to benefit cadres in the name of tourism promotion. He did not respond to his previous statement that the Ministry of Economic Affairs had cut his ministry's plans.

The misunderstanding between the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development and the Ministry of Social Development regarding budget allocation and the contradictory views among ministers indicate that the budget implementation journey will not be smooth in the coming days. Along with the ministers' responses, MPs have been given time until 1 PM tomorrow to submit proposals for expenditure cuts. The Koshi Province government had presented an estimated budget of 40 Arba 44 crore 98 lakh rupees to the Provincial Assembly on Asar 1.

Following a warning of organized rebellion from the majority of ruling party MPs, including the chairpersons of parliamentary committees, against the allocation in the said budget, the government has committed to postponing schemes worth 1 Arba and including new schemes by the third week of Shrawan. However, implementing that commitment is not easy.