Deliberations on policies and programmes in progress

Deliberations on the Government’s Policies and Programmes for Fiscal Year 2023/24 continue in the House of Representatives (HoR) today as well. Taking part in the discussions on the policies and programmes today, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)’s leader and lawmaker Gyan Bahadur Shahi said the RPP will conduct a campaign against corruption from the streets and the parliament in a constructive manner.

“Let the government bring to justice the corrupt and the criminals, we will carry out a campaign against corruption,” he said, adding that the effectiveness of the parliament needed to be enhanced and it will not be realized only by merely playing the ‘routine role’ of the ruling side and the opposition side. Shahi said the parliament is not a place to exchange baseless gossip. “Daily Rs 1 million is spent to run the parliament now. The people have not send us here to waste time in baseless talk,” he added. Shahi demanded serious investigation into the fake Bhutanese refugee scandal.

According to him, there should not be two sets of rules – one for the privileged people in the government and the other for the common man. Everyone is equal before the law, he argued. Lawmaker Shahi also called for depoliticizing education and health sector and urged the parliament to make law not allowing the government officials and lawmakers to invest in schools, colleges and hospitals. He also called on the government to bring a concrete plan for employment creation within the country, to annul the trade unions, to create investment climate and protect domestic industries and productions through the upcoming budget.

Some essential topics have been missed out in policies: leader Yadav Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal Chair and lawmaker Upendra Yadav said although the government’s policies and programmes have included many topics, some important topics have been left out. He opined that the topic of making fiscal federation effective contained in the policies and programmes is positive, but it is not spelled out how it is going to be done. Similarly, he mentioned about other ‘positive programmes’ contained in the budget: re-operating the closed and sick industries, restricting the National Planning Commission, the provision of agriculture insurance and seed storage facilities, setting up fertiliser industry, providing ID cards to the poor families, bringing foreign investment in the industrial sector and starting the construction of the Nijgadh airport, among others.

Lawmaker Yadav however slammed the policies and programmes, saying they were oriented towards hijacking the powers of the province and local governments. Rs 5 trillion is required for implementing policies and programmes: MP Ale Lawmaker Prem Bahadur Ale said that a budget of around Rs 5 trillion is required to implement the government’s policies and programmes. He opined that although the policies and programmes which come at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis included some ‘very promising and ambitious’ programmes, their implementation seems quite challenging.

“A budget of around Rs 5 trillion is required in order to implement each and every programme included in the policies and programmes,” he said, adding that but the report of the Auditor General shows that only about 37 per cent of all the programmes included in the government’s past policies and programmes have been implemented. He called for making the revenue administration efficient, introducing tax reforms and constructing a tri-nation road linking Kailash-Manasarovar through Nepal. Programmes linked with the life of citizen should be included in the budget: Singh Prakash Man Singh asserted that plans and programmes linked with the life of the common man should be prioritized in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

He demanded that the government should bring budget fulfilling the needs and aspirations of the citizens so as to remove the sense of despondency currently seen among the people. Stating that the rule of law be strictly implemented for promoting good governance and the zero tolerance on corruption, he called for fair investigation into the fake Bhutanese refugee scam and punishment to the culprits. Lawmaker Singh also demanded preparing an integrated development plan for the federal capital and the federal government only implementing the national pride projects and the projects of strategic importance.

Need of modern burn hospital starkly felt in country: lawmaker Bhandari Lawmaker Chandrakanta Bhandari, who suffered burn injuries and underwent successful treatment in India, urged the government to construct a modern hospital for treating burn patients within the country. Stating that 110 people lost life to burn injuries in various fire incidents including the explosion of cooking gas cylinders last year alone, he said there is a need of a well-equipped burn hospital within the country. He added that he has also shared this to the Prime Minister when he met him after returning from India following his treatment.

Bhandari also stressed on the need of making the people aware about the fire safety measures. Raghuveer Mahaseth said what the people needed at present was development and commitment to it. He called on the government to bring the bill on citizenship promptly to provide citizenship to the offspring of Nepali citizens who have acquired citizenship by birth. He demanded that the government make provisions for re-operating the now closed Birgunj Agricultural Implement Industry, the Birgunj Sugar Mills and the Janakpur Cigarette Factory.

Lawmaker Ram Kumar Rai said the step taken by the government against corruption has raised the hope and enthusiasm among the people that the present government means tough against corruption. Similarly, lawmakers Surya Man Dong, Shankar Bhandari, Mangal Prasad Gupta, Hit Bahadur Tamang, Ishwari Devi Neupane, Sunita Baral and Lekhnath Dahal stressed on the effective and honest implementation of the policies and programmes.