Gandaki govt begins budget preparation process

BY Our Correspondent  Pokhara, May 7: The Gandaki Province government, which is now busy preparing policy, programme and budget for the coming fiscal year 2022/23, has  held discussions with the former vice-chairmen of the National Planning Commission and other experts.

The discussions were held on Wednesday and Thursday at the Ministry of Finance of the Province.

In the discussions held in the presence of Chief Minister Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokhrel, former vice chairmen of the Planning Commission Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, Dipendra Bahadur Kshetri, Min Bahadur Shrestha, Dinesh Chandra Devkota and others were present.

All the participants in the discussion suggested strengthening federalism and introducing a long-term plan that would also be realised  by the people.

Stating that there is a problem in the implementation of the plan, they suggested that the new budget should be focused more on production, job creation and import substitution. They said that the biggest project was the successful implementation of federalism.

Speaking at the meeting, Chief Minister Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokhrel expressed the government's commitment to formulate the budget as suggested by the experts and said that research would be given priority in the coming fiscal budget.

He said, "Some data are required but they are found nowhere. Due to lack of data, planning cannot be done. The government needs to do something for research."

Stating that the province has come to the present stage facing many problems, Chief Minister Pokharel said that it was important for the province to work in a way that the people could feel even though the federal government seemed to be indifferent to power transfer.

Finance Minister Ramji Prasad Baral said that the government had received a lot of feedback from the two-day discussions and expressed his commitment to working for their implementation.

Former vice chairman of the Planning Commission Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel suggested that the government should give priority to the implementation of federalism.

He said, "Unless the budget is implemented effectively, it is not possible to raise the economic status."

He urged them to pay special attention to the demographic details while preparing policy and programmes.

Stating that implementation of federalism is the job of not only the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, he stressed the need for raising strong voice for that  at the province and local levels.

Former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Anandaraj Mulmi said that there had not been much discussion during the formulation of the five-year plan of the province and added that it was time to analyse the feasibility of the current plans and programmes.

He suggested opening at least one fair price shop in each municipality to end the monopoly of the market.

He suggested increasing the source of income of the province by marketing local products in all 85 municipalities.

He said that the Province government should lobby for the operation of Uttarganga Hydropower Project and the establishment of the Tourism Board in Gandaki.

National Assembly Member Dr. Khim Lal Devkota suggested that small scale projects should be given to the local level, distributive budget should not be introduced and multi-year plan should be reduced.

He said that emphasis should be laid on industrial production,  adding that most of the budget would go to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and now it needed a revision.