Lumbini Govt working on borrowing with deficit budget

Every year, the balance of the payment has been shifted to the next year. Even in the last fiscal year, more than 2 billion payment obligations have been shifted to this year .

In order to increase the size of the budget, the Lumbini government has made a budget with the goal of raising the revenue collection target and raising internal debt without creating a law. It also adds financial responsibility to the government. The work of raising the budget figure by raising internal debt without law was started by the Maoist-led government and those who became the Minister of Economic Affairs from the Maoist party . The Lumbini government had set a target of collecting 2.7 billion domestic debt in 078/79 .

Economic Affairs and Planning Minister at that time Krishnadhwaj Khadka of Maoist had brought the budget on October 20th by revising the budget brought by the UML-led government through an ordinance. UML's Economic Affairs Minister Baijnath Chaudhary brought a budget of 40.95 billion 97 lakh rupees with the target of collecting revenue from 4.29 billion internal sources. Revising it, Khadka of Maoist raised the target of revenue collection from internal sources to 5.95 billion 5.6 million.

He had set a target of raising 2.7 billion domestic debt to meet the revised budget. According to the target, the revenue collection was about 3 billion less. In the same year, the government could not pay the amount of 990 million for the completed projects for water supply and irrigation after the target of raising internal debt was zero. Even for 079/80, Khadka, the economic affairs minister of the Maoists, brought a budget of 42 billion 635 million. In addition, it set a target of collecting 4 billion 109.5 million revenue from internal sources of collecting 1 billion in internal debt . But the revenue collection was only 2 billion 600 million rupees. Domestic debt collection has become zero. Its direct impact was also seen in the development plans of the government. Due to the poor revenue collection and the inability to collect funds for internal debt, the payment of about one and a half billion for water and irrigation projects was stopped .

Even though the work has been completed, more than 400 million worth of 242 schemes for drinking water, which have been stopped due to lack of funds, have been paid in the last financial year, said Gunanidhi Pokharel, head of the division of the Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply. The government announced a budget of 40 billion 47 crores for the last financial year. Dhan Bahadur Maski, who became the economic affairs minister from Maoist, also presented the target of collecting 1 billion 250 million domestic debt while continuing the budget of the previous ministers.

So far, there has not been a law to collect internal debt in the province. Minister Maski had set a target of 4 billion 735 million revenue collection in the last financial year . But only 1 billion 62 crore 54 lakh rupees were collected. Even in the previous financial year, the internal revenue collection was only about 35 percent and the internal debt collection was zero, so the government has to pay about 2 billion payment obligations for the plans that were completed in the last financial year.

Due to lack of funds, more than 75 million rupees for road infrastructure, 39 million rupees for irrigation, and more than 20 million rupees for urban development have yet to be paid, he said. The financial equalization grant and the payment from the internal resources of the province for the construction work done by the builders and the consumer committee, the program of the organization and the payment for the agriculture veterinary are also pending .

In the last fiscal year, although the government has not yet received the details of the obligation to pay due to lack of funds from the ministries, the Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning, Ram Bahadur KC, said that between 1.5 and 2 billion will remain to be paid. "The law to raise internal debt has not been made yet, the fourth installment of the equalization grant given by the union, that is, about two billion, has not been given," he said, "since the internal revenue has not risen as per the target, we are arranging the process so that the government will also pay the completed projects next year." story-nbsp;. KC says that due to certain policy ambiguities of the state government, court cases on revenue matters, and the fact that the grant given by the federal government is not certain, the amount of the plan has not been paid according to the work of the government every year. He says that in the previous year, when the budget was spent more than the allocation for the plan, the payment was a problem, but in the current financial year, the government had to stop the payment due to lack of funds according to the budget.

Deepak Gyawali, head of Provincial Treasury and Accounts Control Office, Butwal, also stated that the government has problems in paying the amount due to the fact that the government is unable to reconcile income and expenditure and when it takes budget revenue collection targets and debt collection targets under non-legal headings . "Last financial year, the government kept the balance because it could not pay," he said So far, only 155.55 million has been collected under this title, despite the target of collection. After the Community Forest Users Federation went to the Supreme Court regarding the issue of forest revenue, revenue collection has been stopped. He also said that since the domestic debt collection law has not been made yet, it is wrong to keep that title. Manju Bhusal, president of the Lumbini Builders' Association, complained that the builders were getting more upset when the Lumbini state government continued to work on loans for three years.

'For three years, the business friends of the government have been continuously doing the work on loans, what is more shameful than this,' Bhusal said, 'The government is developing a trend that the payment will be made next year and the budget will be exhausted by the end of June of the next year as well.' She said that the government is preparing to publicize the protest program by listening to the demands of the businessmen and not paying for the completed projects immediately.

The government of Lumbini is continuously decreasing in its development spending capacity. The Ministers claim that budget expenditure has been affected due to the lack of staff in the ministries and the inability to implement the plan on time. Since 077/78, the percentage of budget expenditure seems to be decreasing . In 077/78, 81.99 percent of the total budget was spent. This is the year in which the Lumbini state government spent the most budget. Rabindra Aryal, Information Officer of the Provincial Accounts Controller's Office, said that 18.70 percent in 074/75, 60.64 percent in 075/76, and 69.77 percent of the budget was spent in 076/77. 074/75 is the first year of establishment of the province . The provincial government started spending the budget only from February of the last financial year. The expenditure percentage increased from the initial year to 077/78 and has been steadily decreasing since then .

69.99 percent was spent in 078/79 and 70 percent of the budget was spent in fiscal year 079/80. Aryal says that 66 percent of the budget was spent in the last financial year. Mahesh Pandey, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, says that although there is some decrease compared to previous years, overall the development expenditure plan of the province is good. "Policy weakness in the implementation of some plans, due to the problem of not awarding contracts on time, the lack of staff also causes difficulties in the budget expenditure," he said, "In the last financial year, the budget was also seen to be low." The payment was stopped due to lack of funds. He said that if there is the amount, there is a possibility that the expenditure will increase by 10 percent even in the last two days. In Lumbini, 18 percent more was spent in June alone. According to the Provincial Accounts Controller's Office, 18.62 percent of the budget was spent in Lumbini in 24 days of June. The office has said that 19 billion 23 crore 57 lakh 63 thousand was spent till the end of May and 7 trillion 53 crore 77 lakh 47 thousand was spent till the 24th of June.