Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, July 1:

‘Govt writ doesn’t run in large parts of country’.

Former finance minister and Nepali Congress leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat today said it is meaningless to hold discussions on the upcoming budget at a time when the government has lost control over a large part of the country and has no capacity to implement it. Mahat was speaking at a talk programme organised by a local club in the capital. The government had targeted spending Rs 32 billion as capital investment last year, but it could not spend even half of it due to its inability to reach out to the people, he said, adding that the budget would be spent only in the urban areas. “The GDP growth rate has gone down to less than two per cent, which is the lowest in 15 years and we are passing through a democratic deficit due to the royal takevoer,” Dr Mahat observed. In a sarcastic remark, Mahat said the business community had welcomed the royal takeover hoping a “magic progress” in the business and industrial sector.

“Have they found any change since the takeover?” the former finance minister asked. Foreign aid accounts for two-thirds of the development budget, he said, but the international community has shown “negative attitude” at present due to the King’s direct rule. He added that a sizeable amount of the budget would be spent to meet security requirements, which would ultimately affect the social sector. Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr Shankar Sharma, however, countered Mahat’s claim, saying that security expenses would remain limited within three per cent of the GDP. He, however, conceded that the government has not been able to take development projects in 14 districts due to the conflict. Sharma also admitted that it is the non-agriculture sector that has suffered the most. He said the upcoming budget, which would be announced on July 16, will give priority to health, education and irrigation sectors to minimise the impact of the conflict. Businessmen and industrialists, including Binod Chaudhary, Chandi Prasad Dhakal and Kiran Shakha, stressed the need for a “realistic” budget and asked the government to explore new sources of tax.