The development pace of the Lumbini provincial government has slowed down. The government's development expenditure has been seen to be low due to the protests against the government, the confusion of political parties, the announcement of elections, and preparations for the elections. Similarly, the 20 percent budget cut by the federal government has also caused problems in the implementation of the provincial government's small plans.

The provincial government, which has allocated a budget of 38.91 billion for the current fiscal year, has spent only 22.42 percent of the budget by mid-Magh. This is excluding the grant budget payment given by the provincial government to the local level. The government has paid 1.24 billion 8.2 million to the local level. The percentage of expenditure including that is 23.65. After 7 months of budget implementation, only 9.20 billion has been spent including the grant payment to the local level. The percentage of capital expenditure in that is still low. Of the capital amount of 23.47 billion 14 million allocated, only 20.97 percent or 4.92 billion 20 million has been spent in 7 months. By mid-December, the government had spent 18.4 percent, or 7.95 billion 55 million.

The government had spent 24.47 percent of the budget at the same time last year, which was 50 million more than the allocated budget. Compared to this year, the government had already spent nearly 400 million more budget at the same time last year. According to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, 27.73 percent has been spent on the current account. After the Genji demonstration at the beginning of the year to prepare and implement the government's annual work plan, the government was in confusion about how to spend the budget. The federal government that was formed then cut the budget. The impact of this was also seen in the budget expenditure and now that the elections are over, the government's development and work will gain momentum, said Dinesh Panthi, government spokesperson and Minister for Land, Agriculture and Cooperatives. ‘The budget expenditure has been seen as low due to various political developments,’ he said, ‘There was also some confusion, now that a new government will be formed at the center after the elections and the pace of work will also increase in the provinces.’

Lumbini has 11 ministries including Chief Minister Chet Narayan Acharya. Of these, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has the lowest budget expenditure. The ministry, which received a capital budget of Rs 227 million, has so far spent only 0.04 percent of the budget. So far, only Rs 85,993 has been spent on capital. Minister Santosh Kumar Pandey said that the expenditure has been low because there is a lot of budget in the current budget and it is not time to spend the capital budget. ‘We will provide the budget to our Sports Council and Youth Council, we will not spend it ourselves,’ he said, ‘That is why the expenditure has been seen as low, the elections are over, now the percentage will increase after the capital expenditure is distributed.’ _{Technicians measuring for the construction of a concrete bridge in Midi Khola of Chandrakot Rural Municipality, Gulmi. Photos: Ghanshyam Gautam/Kantipur} 

The provincial health ministry has spent the most. The health ministry, which received a budget of 1.57 billion 1.6 million for the current fiscal year, has already spent 1.7 billion 1.2 million rupees. Which is 68.18 percent. The ministry has already paid an additional 700 million rupees to the Lumbini Provincial Hospital under construction in Butwal under the Ministry of Health. That has increased the percentage of capital expenditure. Health Minister Khem Bahadur Saru said that the ministry has spent 34.37 percent not only on capital but also on current programs. 'We are also working on various programs under the current program,' he said. 'We had instructed to complete all the plans for the current fiscal year by the month of Jestha, and work is being done accordingly.'

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, which received the highest budget for the current fiscal year, has so far spent only 22.61 percent of the budget. Out of that, 22.39 percent was spent on capital, said Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Bhumishwar Dhakal. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure received a budget of 9.61 billion rupees for capital. Of that, 2.15 billion rupees have been spent and many projects are in the contract process, so the expenditure is more than 30 percent when the payment is made in Falgun, he said. Similarly, the Ministry of Urban Development, which received a capital budget of 5.38 billion rupees, has so far spent only 1.4 billion rupees, or 19.50 percent. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law has spent zero.11 percent on capital expenditure. The government had provided a budget of Rs 166 million to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the current fiscal year. The expenditure of the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, which is leading the government, is also low. The Chief Minister's Office, which received Rs 29.7 million in capital expenditure and Rs 472.1 million in current expenditure, has so far spent only Rs 2823 thousand on capital expenditure and Rs 878.29 thousand on current expenditure. Which is only 9.51 percent on capital expenditure and 18.60 percent on current expenditure.

Nearly 800 small projects in the province have been left behind after Chief Minister Acharya, citing the need to cut government expenditure and good governance, introduced a policy to implement small projects above Rs 500,000 through the contract process. Earlier, although these projects were implemented on the basis of quotations, Chief Minister Acharya had been putting forward the objective of cutting small projects since last fiscal year. He has implemented the same decision in the current fiscal year and directed that only projects up to Rs 5 lakh be put up for quotation. As a result, the budget of about 800 projects up to Rs 1 million will be cut by 20 percent and the quality of the work will not be improved due to the lack of competition when the budget is reduced by contracting. An official of the Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply said that the projects themselves are being shelved. “More than 400 projects of our ministry are in a state of being shelved,” said the official. “Plans and budgets are selected, but then the work is being shelved in the name of good governance.” He said that the budget expenditure has been low due to many small projects and uncertainty in implementation.

Deepak Gyawali, head of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, said that the government has paid a total of 23.65 percent of the budget by mid-Magh. According to him, this amount is slightly less than the same period last year. He said that at least 33 percent should have been spent in the first six months of the current fiscal year, but even after the end of the first seven months, it has been around 24 percent. ‘Political uncertainty, staff shortage, and policy difficulties may have reduced the budget expenditure,’ he said. ‘The budget expenditure may have been seen as low because some schemes are still in progress and payments are pending.’ He said that the percentage of expenditure will also increase as Falgun and Chait are payment months.’