The House of Representatives (HoR) on Monday passed a proposal tabled before the HoR meeting seeking passage of the Appropriation Bill 2080. Minister for Finance Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat had tabled the motion in the second meeting of the HoR. Following HoR approval to the motion, HoR Speaker Devraj Ghimire informed the House that the ministry-wise discussions on the annual budget shall continue from June 15 to 27. Prior to this, Minister for Finance Dr Mahat responded to the concerns raised by the HoR members on the upcoming year’s budget and said that the budget was formulated to uplift living standards of the citizens, create employment and promote industrial environment in the country.
He said that the budget has been allocated in health care, education, infrastructure development and to maintain law and order as well as good-governance. Dr Mahat also made it clear that budget has been allocated for health care insurance scheme, for the treatment of chronic patients and backward region. The Finance Minister was of the view that the budget is focused on increasing production and economic growth of the country. Earlier, taking part on the discussions on the bill, UML lawmaker Gokarna Bista argued that the budget has no clear pronouncement to those economically underprivileged and vulnerable communities.
MP Santosh Pariyar pointed out that the budget was weak in maintaining intergovernmental coordination. Likewise, Prem Suwal said that the budget could have been justifiable had the government consulted the university in the budget formulation job. Bishwa Prakash Sharma, Ranju Kumari Jha and Ambar Bahadur Thapa said that the budget should focus on its implementation part. The HoR shall meet again at 11:00 am on June 15.
