Pokhara, May 30

Gandaki Province Chief Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung has said he is neither happy nor sad about the budget for the upcoming fiscal made public by the federal government.

“The central government is expected to play the role of a guardian in a federal set-up and let the sub-national governments carry out development-related activities, but the allocation of 15 per cent of the total budget for provinces doesn’t show the federal government acting as per the spirit of federalism,” said the chief minister.

“Development works, including construction works are better implemented by sub-national governments, which was evidenced when we successfully completed 10 bridge projects under our jurisdiction on time, which wouldn’t have been possible if the projects were implemented by the federal government,” he added.

The government’s act of doing the work that should be done by the sub-national government is surprisingly and at odds with the spirit of federalism, he said.