A deputy secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning said that it is difficult to withstand the pressure put on the selection of plans by lawmakers to plan for their constituencies during each year's budget.
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MPs have always dominated the budget of Karnali. MPs have the right to recommend plans in the budget allocated by various ministries of the province, and they have been doing intense 'lobbying' before the budget to make plans.
In Karnali, plans are selected according to the Procedures for Project Proposal and Selection Process-2082. The provincial government has made arrangements for plans above Rs 5 million to be included in the budget to be entered into the 'Project Bank'. For this, a district-level project proposal selection recommendation committee has been formed under the coordination of the senior member of the directly elected provincial assembly.
This committee has been arranged to have members of the provincial assembly, including the head and deputy head of the district coordination committee, and the head and deputy head of the local level. In which the chief member-secretary of the thematic office in the district remains. Only the plans recommended by the committee will be entered into the project bank through the thematic ministry, said Ashoknath Yogi, member of the Karnali Provincial Planning Commission. According to him, the district's thematic offices register project proposals for the plans recommended by ward offices, local levels and MPs of the concerned areas from mid-Shrawan to mid-Mangsir.
'The concerned office conducts a field visit to the proposed plans and conducts initial screening. It has been arranged that the plans that meet the necessary criteria should be submitted to the committee by Magh 15 every year,' he said. 'The district-level recommendation committee formed under the leadership and participation of the MPs sends the list of plans to the concerned ministry by mid-Falgun. We include the plans that come to the commission through the ministry in the project bank.' According to him, the plans included in the project bank are prioritized and included in the budget. He claims that the plans have shown greater returns when the plans are selected and implemented under the supervision of MPs.
For plans to be included in the provincial government's budget, it is mandatory to fill out the form as per Schedule 2. The signature of the local level or provincial assembly member is mandatory in the form. Citizen leader Narendra KC said that since the coordinator of the planning recommendation committee is an MP, they have a say in it. ‘The MP’s recommendation is also in the schedule, and the MP is the coordinator and member in the selection of recommendations,’ he said. ‘The concept of the project bank has increased the influence of the MP in the development plan.’
Former dean of Madhya Paschim University Pitambar Dhakal says that the influence of the MPs in the development plan has increased economic chaos. ‘Instead, when there was an infrastructure development fund, the MPs were given a limited budget, and they used that to fulfill the expectations of the workers,’ he said. ‘After the court order cancelled the program, they have a say in the development plan.’ He said that the trouble of middlemen has reduced somewhat after the start of the project bank.’
A deputy secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning said that it is difficult to withstand the pressure that the MPs put on the selection of plans to plan for their constituencies during the budget every year. ‘When it comes to pressure for a plan, MPs are the ones who put pressure, and almost all employees are forced to turn off their phones a week before the budget,’ he said. ‘We have also been tightening the entry to the ministry for a week.’ According to him, there is a constant rush of MPs to the ministry every day.
Ministry spokesperson Chetan Kumar Timilsena said that the recommendation committee, which includes MPs from the district, is facilitating the selection of plans as prescribed in the work procedure. ‘Whatever they do, they do according to the work procedure,’ he said. ‘Since they have direct contact with the public, they are also informed about the plans of the district, which has made the work of recommendations easier.’
Former Chief Minister and Provincial Assembly member Rajkumar Sharma said that the concept of the project bank has made the budget implementation and selection of the provincial government transparent, systematic and scientific. ‘The district-level committee does not only include MPs, but the task of conducting technical evaluation and prioritizing the plan should be the responsibility of the thematic office,’ he said. ‘The committee will recommend the plan based on the criteria set.’ Another MP, Kal Bahadur Hamal, said that they will always play a positive role in regulating, monitoring and managing the development plan through the district-level project recommendation committee.’
There are 40 MPs in the provincial assembly, including 24 direct and 16 proportional representatives. In Karnali, Rs 5.4 billion was spent out of the Rs 6.52 billion budget allocated for the infrastructure development program and infrastructure special program until the fiscal year 2080/81. The Karnali government had allocated budget to the Infrastructure Development Fund since 2075 BS.
In the first three years, Rs 1.6 billion was spent annually at the rate of Rs 40 million, while from the time of former Chief Minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, Rs 10 million was allocated for proportional representation and Rs 40 million for direct representation. But the Rs 1.12 billion allocated in the fiscal year 2080/81 was not implemented after the Supreme Court scrapped the program.
In the current fiscal year, the Karnali government had brought a budget of Rs 32.99 billion. The provincial government is preparing to bring a budget of around the same amount in the coming fiscal year as well. Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Rajiv Bikram Shah informed that the ceiling has been distributed to the ministries by increasing it by one percent from the current fiscal year. ‘The ministries are now in the final preparations for the budget,’ he said, ‘Let’s hope that the budget will be as per the people’s expectations.’
