The interim government formed after the Gen-G protests had withheld about 1.25 trillion rupees from the total budget allocated to development ministries for the current fiscal year. Of that, only 52.9 billion rupees have been released for 2,042 projects so far. Another 58.16 billion rupees remain withheld. The concerned ministries have said that there is a problem in awarding new contracts for projects that were completed in the current fiscal year. Some projects were kept under political pressure and influence. A source in the Ministry of Finance has said that the budget was withheld because there was no preparation for such projects.

It was decided to suspend (withhold) 1.99 trillion rupees from the allocation made for useless expenses and projects that were not prepared and would not yield financial returns, while ensuring 1.96 trillion rupees within the budget limit for election operations and security. The Cabinet meeting on 6 Asoj also decided to cut the budget of some projects. According to the same decision, the government has cut the budget of about 110 billion rupees for projects under about a dozen development ministries.

Although the projects that are in the process of opening bids, publishing bid notices, or needing to continue past work were released by 17 Falgun 2082 based on the request sent by the concerned ministry, Artha has stated that no project has been released since then. The largest number of projects have been suspended under the Ministry of Urban Development.

Of the 63 billion rupees that have been suspended, only 600 projects worth 23 billion rupees have been released, said Dilip Bhandari, head of the Planning, Building and Housing Division of the Ministry of Urban Development. 1,400 projects have not yet been released. 'New contracts could not be made after the suspension, and since they have not been released yet, there will be no new contracts in the current fiscal year,' he said. 'All the projects that have been suspended are new projects.'

He said that even if they are released now, new contracts cannot be made as the fiscal year is coming to an end. While the government has decided not to include projects below Rs 30 million in the budget of the federal government, Sahari has included 20 programs worth Rs 100,000 each in the budget of the current fiscal year. Two dozen projects worth Rs 100,000 have been included in the budget. Projects worth Rs 16.9 billion were frozen under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. Projects worth Rs 13.13 billion have been released so far.

Projects worth Rs 2.96 billion have not yet been released. Ramhari Pokharel, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said that the lack of release is having an impact on the projects. The budgets of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Youth and Sports, Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Forest and Environment, Drinking Water and Federal Affairs and General Administration have been frozen, of which the amount of the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has not yet been released.

Netra Prasad Subedi, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry, confirmed that although Rs 1.456 billion was frozen, it has not been released. "There has been no request from the concerned bodies to release the stopped budget," he said, "that is why the Ministry of Finance has not been asked to release it." 

Ramakant Duwadi, Chief and Joint Secretary of the Planning and Foreign Coordination Division under the Ministry of Water Supply, said that the funds of some projects whose preparations have been completed have also been stopped. The budget of 278 projects under this ministry is still stopped. Out of the initial 12.8 billion rupees that were stopped, only 8.64 billion rupees have been released. Another 4.16 billion rupees worth of projects have not been released yet.

The Ministry of Water Supply has stated that the budget of some projects whose preparations have been completed and whose Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) have been prepared is still stopped. ‘Nothing happened because the budget of projects that were not ready was withheld, there were also projects that were approved under political pressure,’ said a source from the Ministry of Water Supply, ‘The budget of some projects that were ready and in the process of being worked on has not been worked on due to withholding.’

The budget for program expenditure of Rs 1.4558 billion and Rs 621.9 million towards conditional current grants to government bodies, committees and boards was withheld along with the capital budget. According to a source from the ministry, Rs 3.2049 billion towards capital conditional grants to government bodies, committees and boards and Rs 115 million towards the upcoming current expenditure (excluding miscellaneous expenses) have been suspended, totaling Rs 119.53 billion. 

Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Jayanarayan Acharya said that the budget of projects under the Department of Tourism and the Department of Archaeology has been withheld.

‘The total capital budget allocated for the ministry in the current fiscal year is Rs 4.84 billion 62 million,’ he said, ‘of which Rs 3.64 billion 65 million has been withheld.’ He said that due to this, there will be no new contracts in the current fiscal year and the withholding has affected the budget ceiling for the next fiscal year. ‘The budget is not enough to propose new projects in the next fiscal year,’ he said. 

Of the Rs 9.20 billion withheld budget, Rs 2.15 billion remains to be released, said Tara Prasad Bhatta, Senior Divisional Engineer of the Program, Budget and Monitoring Division under the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation. ‘Only about Rs 7 billion has been released,’ he said, ‘New large, medium and fragmented projects included in the budget have been withheld.