Pokhara, January 8

The winter session of the Provincial Assembly in Gandaki Province started today with opposition leaders criticising the government for its poor performance, on the first day of the fifth convention of the Provincial Assembly so far.

“The provincial government, just like the central government under the erstwhile unitary system, has failed to do anything different to let the people feel the change, which is sad,” said Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader Krishnachandra Nepali, urging the government to focus on implementation of development projects and full utilisation of the budget.

Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal’s parliamentary party leader Krishna Thapa stressed the need for leaders to come out of the illusion that prosperity of a country was possible without spending budget.

“Though we have a new political system, we have the same old mindset and working style, which has been a major problem,” he said, while Socialist Party-Nepal PA member Hari Sharan Acharya too expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s performance so far.

On his part, Chief Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung, responding to the PA members’ concerns, acknowledged the high expectation of people and said the government was slowly picking pace.

“I understand people’s expectations, but as federalism is a new exercise for us, it’s taking time, for sure. Slowly it’s getting easier for us to work now,” he said, asking the PA members to realise the fact and stop criticising the government for criticism’s sake.

To make his case, the chief minister cited the example of Rome, a city in Italy, and said every city takes time in its making. “We’re continuously applying ourselves towards the goal of prosperity and development; it’s taken time, true, but it’s also worth remembering that development or anything achieved overnight may not be sustainable,” the CM reasoned.

Further, the chief minister also asked the lawmakers to realise that federalism isn’t an expensive system. “Though it looks an expensive affair, it’s not actually,” he said. “Earlier we had a compulsion to go all the way to Kathmandu to meet the government, but this is no longer the case now,” he said.