Lalitpur, November 26:

The Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prithvi Subba Gurung today said the budget allocated for the ministry was ‘too little’ to conduct any work of heritage conservation.

“The budget allocated to the ministry is just peanuts,” Gurung said while addressing the concluding ceremony of a 11-day-long training programme on classification and registration of heritages organised by Department of Archaeology (DoA) here today.

The government has allocated around Rs 600 million to the ministry for this fiscal year, though the three-year interim plan has suggested Rs 16 billion for three years. “We need at least Rs 8 billion for this year only,” he said, adding, “We need budget in billions, not in crores.”

Director general of DoA Kosh Prasad Acharya said the family of DoA has been extended further. “Such programmes would be continued in the days to come,” he said.

Minister Gurung also handed over certificates to some 30 participants in the training.