‘Deliberations meaningless if budget is not changed’

In the ongoing deliberations on budget in the House of Representatives (HoR), lawmakers have argued if the budget is not changed, it was pointless to comment on it.

Shyam Kumar Ghimire viewed, “If there is no change in budget despite weeklong deliberations, what’s its relevance? Either amend law for it or present it straightly for endorsement.”

According to him, the government failed in capital formation despite taking huge amount of public debt in recent years.

Hem Raj Rai however commented that the budget would give pace to national economy. Priority to agriculture, energy, tourism and IT is a good point, he added.

Gyanu Basnet Subedi also claimed the budget would help revive the sputtering economy.

Binita Kathayat accused the government of failing to allocate adequate budget for touristic regions as Rara. She wondered why government stilled ignored Karnali Province while it is still lagging behind development.

Teju Lal Chaudhari also complained that Karnali and Madhes provinces which are lagging behind in Human Development Index were deprived of adequate budget.

Pratima Gautam accused the government of ignoring capital formation and development in the budget. The finance ministers failed to take initiatives for economic restructuring, she asserted.

The loan for start-up, fellowship to 1,000 youths, announcement of women investment year were encouraging aspects of budget, according to Eknath Dhakal. Even the plan to welcome 1.6 million tourists is appreciative.

Kantika Sejuwal argued that budget was traditional and it would not be able to achieve sustainable development goals. She worried over not prioritizing the availability of agricultural tool and goods. Budget is popular in announcement, she added.

Basudev Ghimire viewed implementation of budget is discouraging because of lack of coordination among province and local levels. The budget is focused more on physical infrastructures while it ignored others.

The HoR meets next at 11:00 am on Monday.