NA panel to hold talks with elected reps of all tiers of govt

Kathmandu, January 23

The National Concern and Coordination Committee led by National Assembly Chair Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa said her panel would hold interaction with representatives of all tiers of governments — federal, provincial and local — to discuss their powers and jurisdictions.

Thapa said the panel members would go to all the provinces with experts to discuss concurrent lists of powers and their budgetary jurisdictions within a month. “Although we have adopted federalism, our budgetary method is still old. There is no clear criteria that states which project falls under which government,” she said and added that budgetary allocation was influenced by people with contacts at power centres.

“We need to develop criteria for budgetary allocations. It should be based on need. Equitable distribution is another factor that needs to be taken into account while allocating budget,” she argued. Thapa said the lower tiers of governments could not carry out their functions effectively due to multiple factors, but the same arguments could not be justified the next fiscal. She said there was need of coordination among all three tiers of government on laws and policies.

Meanwhile the Upper House panel today called newly appointed Chair of National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission Balananda Paudel as an expert to orient the panel members on issues of federalism. He told the panel that provincial governments had interfered with local governments as provincial government’s policies had incorporated issues that came under the  local government’s jurisdiction.

He told the panel that the federal government needs to enact umbrella laws to help lower tiers of government do their jobs effectively. He also said that provincial and local governments should also do their jobs effectively.