Proportional parliamentarians are dissatisfied with the distinction between direct and proportional among parliamentarians
The government of Lumbini state, which has been allocating the budget in a roundabout way to the MP's happy scheme, has prepared to allow the scheme to be chosen at the rate of 40 million rupees in the next financial year as well. But the local people's representatives have protested saying that the state government has intervened.
The provincial government, which is preparing the budget, is preparing to let the direct members of the provincial assembly from all 52 constituencies of Lumbini to choose a plan worth 37.7 million. While legally there is no such arrangement.
But the state government has been practicing selecting plans based on the recommendations of parliamentarians. Proportionate MPs have been protesting saying that only direct MPs have been given such a right. This year, it is planned to let the MPs on the proportional side choose the plan only at the rate of 11 million. Dissatisfaction has increased among the members of the Provincial Assembly and at the local level after directly elected members of the Provincial Assembly have been given the right to choose plans.
Provincial Assembly members and local level heads have been pressurizing the elected representatives to treat them equally and not to interfere with their rights.
The Lumbini state government has prepared to give 37.5 million scheme selection rights to the direct members of the state assembly from all 52 constituencies of Lumbini instead of constituency development fund. MPs on the direct side have been given to choose and recommend a scheme worth Rs 30 million separately and Rs 75 lakh on the special subsidy side.
10 million budget will be given to those elected proportionally in the provincial assembly. According to that, the members of the state assembly have chosen their own plan and recommended it. On the other hand, 35 members of the provincial assembly from the proportional side have protested saying that the government has discriminated among the members of the provincial assembly. They are claiming that they should get the budget directly.
The Lumbini state government has been giving the budget for four years by asking the parliamentarians to recommend plans. Plans for education, health and agriculture sectors must be covered within 37.5 million rupees in the next year's plan . The criteria for recommending a maximum of 10 plans from others has also been made. There is a directive that a plan should be at least 25 lakh rupees.
The government is ready to provide the budget for the scheme recommended by the state assembly member . When the budget is made available in this way, apart from the conditional grant, plans equal to 1.56 billion direct and 1.94 billion 5 million will fall under the right of the provincial assembly member.
People's representatives of the local level are complaining that they are allocating the budget in such a way as to feed the workers rather than the need. Last year, the government had given plan recommendation authority at the rate of Rs 2.75 lakh to direct members and Rs 1 crore to proportional members. In 079/80, a budget of 75 lakhs was allocated for proportional and 225 lakhs per MP for direct MPs .
In the same way, the local people's representatives became angry after the government gave the right to choose the scheme worth 75 lakh rupees going to each municipality towards the special subsidy. They have submitted a memorandum to Lumbini Chief Minister Chetnarayan Acharya and have warned that if the budget is allocated without the coordination of the local level from the budget for special grants, they will not cooperate in the implementation of such plans .
President of Rural Municipality Federation Lumbini Bishnu Kumar Giri has demanded that the local level should also be given the right to choose and recommend conditional plans to be sent by the government to the local level. "After the implementation at the local level, the plan should be selected by the local government," he said. But he said that he returned after the locals did not want to work. "The local people wanted to cultivate potatoes," he said, "The government did not understand and sent it as garlic and onion cultivation, the farmers refused to work." A memorandum has been submitted stating that the meeting of the provincial coordination council should be on time, the selection of plans by the parliamentarians should be transparent and based on local needs, otherwise it cannot be implemented .
"We are not saying that the plan chosen by the honorable provincial government is not good," he said, "but there should be coordination at the local level as to what the local needs are."
Lumbini government spokesperson and Minister of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives Dinesh Panthi said that since the members of the state assembly are also directly connected with the voters, they have been given the right to choose the plan . "Because it is necessary to directly connect with voters and include small plans in the area, we are asked to choose a plan," he said.
