The budget bills introduced by the Far West Province government for the next fiscal year 2082/83 were unanimously passed by the provincial assembly meeting on Wednesday.
During the discussion on the budget, most of the MPs from the ruling and opposition parties criticized the budget and demanded an investigation.
Economic Affairs Minister Bahadur Singh Thapa proposed to pass the budget after answering the questions raised in the meeting for passing the budget. He presented a budget of 33 billion 476 million 48 thousand rupees for the next financial year. Out of the total budget, 19 billion 83 crore 2 lakh 6 thousand i.e. 59.25 percent has been allocated to the capital side while 10 billion 20 million 81 lakh 82 thousand i.e. 30.49 percent has been allocated to the operational side.
In the discussion held on Wednesday before the budget bills were submitted for decision, UML parliamentary party leader Rajendrasinh Rawal, Dharmaraj Pathak, Congress MP Padam Bahadur Shahi, Maoist MP Ramesh Singh Dhami and Prakash Rawal of the United Socialist Party expressed their views on the budget.
UML parliamentary party leader Rawal's comments towards the opposition parties became controversial. He commented that 'monkeys do not build their own houses, nor do they allow others to build them'. Man Bahadur Dhami, MP of the main opposition party Maoist Center, objected to Leader Rawal's statement and requested to remove the statement from the records. After Dhami's objection, Speaker Bhandari said that Rawal's statement will be investigated and removed from the record.
Leader Rawal said to the opposition parties, 'You have a mandate to live in peace at this time, stay in peace. Don't incite and insult, don't sing songs' he said. At present, the Maoist Center, United Socialist Party, RPP and Independent MPs are in opposition in Far West. A joint government of UML and Civil Immunity has been formed under the leadership of Congress.
Although Rawal, the leader of the parliamentary party, expressed his opinion in support of the budget, UML MP Dharmaraj Pathak, who spoke after him, criticized the budget. Pathak had said that there was a scam in the budget and said that an inquiry committee should be formed. 'Mr Chief Minister, let's form an inquiry committee,' said MP Pathak, 'there has been fraud in the budget, one by one fraud is detected, it is necessary to stop it.'
He claimed to be running while earning money in the province. Stating that the comments about the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development are being made public, he said that ethical questions have been raised against the minister. 'Hahakahaki money is being taken. The MPs are also saying the names of the hotels. They are saying that they will give evidence in the meeting of the provincial assembly itself,' MP Pathak said, 'Is this a moral question on the concerned minister or not?'
MP Pathak further said, 'If we came into politics only for 2-4 crores, it's fine, but this is the end, what will happen later, I think. "Some people think that whether they will come to the state assembly or not, whether the people will win the election or not," he said, "those who have doubts about their own political future are being bullies." He remarked that the people who will complete the current governance system are not outside this hall, but there are many inside.
