National Assembly passes three bills related to budget

KATHMANDU: The National Assembly (NA) has endorsed three bills ‒ 'Finance Bill-2077 BS', 'Bill to Raise National Debt-2077 BS' and the 'Loan and Guarantee Bill-2077 BS' ‒ related to the budget.

The Upper House received the bills from the House of Representatives.

Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada responding to queries raised during the clause-wise deliberations over the bills in the National Assembly meeting, in Kathmandu, on Monday, June 22, 2020. Photo: RSS
Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada responding to queries raised during the clause-wise deliberations over the bills in the National Assembly meeting, in Kathmandu, on Monday, June 22, 2020. Photo: RSS

Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada, while responding to queries raised during the clause-wise deliberations over the bills, said promotion of electric vehicle was a priority in the budget for the upcoming fiscal so as to reduce air pollution and to maintain the tax for public vehicles as it is.

Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada responding to queries raised during the clause-wise deliberations over the bills in the National Assembly meeting, in Kathmandu, on Monday, June 22, 2020. Photo: RSS
Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada responding to queries raised during the clause-wise deliberations over the bills in the National Assembly meeting, in Kathmandu, on Monday, June 22, 2020. Photo: RSS

The Finance Minister informed the session that the budget mentioned about several programmes capable of increasing power consumption, clarified that customs duty for chemical fertilisers had not been increased, and infrastructure tax on petroleum products was imposed as its price in Nepal is cheaper than in India.

Meanwhile, the NA members urged the government to reconsider the decision on naturalised citizenship, expressing dissatisfaction over the decision made by Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Secretariat meeting and State Affairs and Good Governance Committee.

NA member Jitendra Narayan Dev said that the decision made on naturalised citizenship was shortsighted and immature. He argued that breaking the marital relation of Tarai-Madhes people with the people of India in bordering areas would not make nationality of the country strong, adding cultural relation with India could not be broken. He also urged NCP (NCP) to reconsider it.

In the meeting, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe, on behalf of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, presented the annual report of the Attorney General for the fiscal year 2075-76 BS (2018-19).

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