Bagmati Assembly approves policies, programmes

By Our Correspondent,Hetaunda, June 3: Bagmati Provincial Assembly has approved policies and programmes presented by the provincial government for the next Fiscal Year 2023/24.  

The Assembly passed the policy and programmes of the government with majority votes following three days of discussion. Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, Bhuwan Kumar Pathak, had presented the document at the Provincial Assembly meeting on Friday.

Eighty-one provincial assembly members expressed their opinion on the policy and programmes. Answering the questions raised during the discussion, the Chief Minister of Bagmati Province, Shalikram Jamkattel, claimed that the policy and programmes were for the grassroots class. 

He said that policies and programmes have been formulated by including the suggestions of all political parties. CM Jamkattel promised to establish integrated service offices in all districts of the province along with building a prosperous, well-governed and corruption-free subnational governance.

Stating that the issue of reform has been raised by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the policy and programmes, he said that the previous government announced the province’s pride scheme without study and assurance of resources and that the current government has devised standards for the same. 

He stated that there is a policy to increase the threshold of the plan, increase financial resources, increase the scope of revenue and run a provincial hospital in rural areas, and claimed that there are programmes to make education policy, establish provincial skill development training council and identify the poor.

CM Jamkattel said that in the past, the province had invested in unprepared schemes which has created a policy anarchy and that the government will correct the steps in this regard. 

Five amendment proposals were rejected

Five members of the Provincial Assembly had proposed amendments to the policy and programmes, but those proposals were rejected by the majority.

Submitting the amendment proposal, Provincial Assembly member Surendra Raj Gosai demanded relocating the highly polluting industries from the Kathmandu Valley to other locations, stopping encroachment on water resources and not building structures in the name of individuals.

Likewise, Provincial Assembly member Srijana Saiju suggested 53 points but they were not included in the policy and programmes. She had proposed an amendment to provide free treatment for women suffering from breast cancer and cervical cancer and to establish a legal counseling centre in every municipality.

Similarly, Prakash Shrestha, a member of the Provincial Assembly, said that the policies and programmes were incomplete, lacked goals and visions, and could not guarantee good governance, and he proposed amendments to have a plan for pride and a multi-year plan in each constituency.

State Assembly member Madhusudan Paudel demanded a solid programme for cost reduction and economic frugality be brought, saying that the constituency development programme should be kept and the role of the state assembly members should be made effective.

Provincial Assembly member Ekalal Shrestha said that the government should make arrangements to purchase electric vehicles and demanded that the vehicle trial center should be operated by the government, citing distortions and inconsistencies when it is operated by the private sector.

Having an empty file is a big weakness: CM

Chief Minister Jamkattel said that when he gave the file containing the policy and programmes of the next fiscal year of Bagmati province to the provincial chief to present it at the assembly, and that it was a managerial weakness that he was provided with an empty file. 

When the members of the provincial assembly raised questions in the meeting, CM Jamkattel said that this is a big weakness in the part of the government and he has taken it seriously. 

“I am asking for an investigation into whether the file provided by the CM’s Office remained empty due to human error,” he said and promised that there would be no such mistakes in the days to come.  The meeting of the Provincial Assembly has been adjourned until further notice.