The provincial govts have followed the bad precedent set by the Centre of allocating pork barrel funds to the assembly members

The provincial governments have followed the bad lessons from the federal government, which they should have avoided. Despite calls not to allocate pork barrel funds for the lawmakers by people from different walks of life, the civil society and even the former finance secretaries, the federal government increased the pork barrel fund to Rs 60 million, from the previous Rs 40 million, for the next fiscal 2019/20. As per the constitutional provision, all provincial governments presented their budgets for the next fiscal within 20 days of the date of tabling the federal budget. Provinces 2 and 3 have allocated Rs 30 million to each assembly member under the Constituency Development Fund. However, Gandaki Province, which did not allocate any fund to its assembly members for the current fiscal, has earmarked only Rs 1.2 million to each of the assembly members, who can use the amount based on the criteria to be set later by the provincial government. Thus, 9.08 per cent of the total capital expenditure (Rs 131 billion) earmarked by all the provinces combined, has been allocated for pork barrel to be handled by the assembly members. The federal government has allocated Rs 9.9 billion for 165 lawmakers elected under the first-past-the-post.

Going through the budget allocations, all the provinces have emphasised on the development of infrastructure, agriculture and tourism. Contrary to what the federal government has proposed in its budget, all six provinces, except for Province-3, have set aside more budget for capital expenditure compared to the recurrent expenditure. According to the figures, Province-1 has allocated Rs 23.57 billion; Province-2 Rs 19.26 billion; Province-3 Rs 22.03 billion; Gandaki Rs 19.85 billion; Province-5 19.85 billion; Karnali Rs 21.29 billion and Sudurpashchim Rs 13.06 billion for capital expenditure. The Centre has allocated less than half of the recurrent expenditure for capital expenditure.

The way the provincial governments have earmarked more budget for capital expenditure, it shows they are headed in the right direction, and they have also set their priorities. However, the only question is whether the sub-national governments have the institutional capacity to utilise the capital expenditure. They still need to make their institutions strong and effective. Another question is how the federal lawmakers and assembly members will use their pork barrel funds at the local levels, which will also unveil separate fiscal budgets within a month to come. Chances of overlapping of projects to be selected by the lawmakers and assembly members are high. In order to avoid duplication of projects, both the elected members need to work in tandem so as to achieve the best results out of the funds. All the projects identified by the provinces should not clash with the national pride projects of the Centre. Province-3’s bid to construct a ring road linking all the 13 districts of the province and building tunnels could duplicate the work of the Centre. Province-5’s proposal of completing the Gautam Buddha International Airport in the next fiscal makes little sense as this project is being built by the Centre. Such duplication could have been avoided had they consulted the Centre before preparing their budgets.

Preventing dengue

Dengue is starting to surface in places other than Dharan in east Nepal, which saw an outbreak a month ago, and the government must act efficaciously to bring it under control. Movement of people from an affected area to another place puts towns and cities at risk of dengue fever, and Kathmandu is no exception. Tens of thousands of people arrive in the capital everyday from various parts of the country, including places like Dharan and nearby towns, making it prone to dengue fever. It is not possible to stop people from travelling, so the government must put in effective measures, including creating awareness, to stop its spread.

Dengue is spread by mosquitoes, and the heat and humidity provide just the ground for them to multiply quickly. Since the mosquitoes live in urban habitats and breed mostly in man-made containers, a campaign must be started to destroy standing water. People should be asked to scrub vessels for any mosquito eggs. Its symptoms are high fever, severe headache, pain in the back and muscles and rashes. Among other measures, use of insecticide-treated bednets could be an effective prevention.