The Lumbini provincial government, which was formed through party division following the changed political situation following the Gen-G movement, has seen its momentum slow down.

UML's Chetnarayan Acharya is the Chief Minister of Lumbini Province. Lumbini, which has 10 ministries including the Chief Minister, is ruled by the UML-Congress coalition government. The government is also supported by small parties including JSP Nepal and LSP. The Lumbini government has spent only 15.39 percent of the budget in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Of that, only 12.35 percent has been spent on capital expenditures. The government had spent 21 percent of the budget in the same period last year.

The Lumbini government had brought a budget of 38.91 billion for the current fiscal year. Of that, only 5.98 billion rupees have been spent so far, according to the Provincial Treasury and Accounts Control Office. According to Rabindra Aryal, Information Officer of the office, out of the 23.47 billion rupees allocated for capital expenditures, only 2.89 billion rupees have been spent by Mangsir.

Opposition party leader and former Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara said that there is no progress in the pace of budget expenditure and work and that the government seems to be inactive. ‘If you say there is no government, then there is a government, but nothing is being done in a way that the people can feel,’ he said, ‘It is clear that political uncertainty has also made it difficult for the government ministers to start working.’ He said that he felt that the ministers were more concerned about how to get political benefits than doing the people’s work. He said that this government in Lumbini is the weakest so far in terms of budget expenditure.

Among the 11 ministries in the government, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has spent the least budget. With a budget of 372.45 million, this ministry has so far spent only 193.73 million. Which is only 5.20 percent. Similarly, the Ministry of Health has spent the most, 37 percent of the budget. The Ministry of Health, which has a budget of 4.95 billion 29 million 73 thousand, has spent 1.84 billion 64 million 41 thousand. The Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers has spent 58 million 84 million out of the 500 million 18 million budget, bringing it to 11.64 percent. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, which has the highest budget, has spent 11.99 percent of the budget. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, which has a total budget of 9.92 billion 45 million, has a capital budget of 9.61 billion. Of this budget, the ministry has spent only 1.12 billion 62 million till Mangsir. Dinesh Panthi, Minister of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives of the Lumbini government and government spokesperson, claimed that the pace of government work has not slowed down even though the expenditure seems low because the financial progress of development works being done at the district level comes later. ‘We have been analyzing the work by asking the taluk offices for monthly progress reports,’ he said, ‘The work is being done at the district and sectoral levels, and the economic progress is weak because the budget is still in the payment process.’ He claimed that although the budget expenditure was slightly lower than last year, it will pick up speed now.’

However, the provincial government has not taken any decision in terms of planning and strategy in the last three months, except for general discussions. As per the directives issued after the formation of the non-party government at the center, the Chief Minister and the Speaker have done some work to reduce the secretariat, implement a 20 percent budget cut in the total budget in the schemes, and increase activity for good governance, but a secretary of a ministry said that overall development work, government transparency, and visible work plans have not been made. ‘The pace of the government is already shown by the budget expenditure,’ he said. ‘Since there is no party government at the center, it seems that the provincial governments find it difficult to coordinate with the federal government.’ Ministers are also less interested in budget expenditure due to political uncertainty. He said that the government has not even held a cabinet meeting for almost a month. No cabinet meeting has been held in Lumbini since November 20.