KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat has criticized the new budget for its bigger size and being brought at a time when many ongoing development projects have not been implemented.
He accused the incumbent government that has recently announced new election dates without discussions of bringing full budget for the fiscal year 2021/22 through an ordinance. The NC leader was speaking at a budget review here on Sunday by the School of Democracy.
“The budget has been brought with an intention of influencing the elections. The caretaker government has only the responsibility of continuing ongoing programs. But it cannot bring supplementary budget,” he said.
Former Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal charged the government with bringing the budget without discussions. Similarly, former vice-chairperson of National Planning Commission Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel attacked the budget as being election-focused while another NPC former vice chair Dr Govinda Pokharel has stated challenges in budget implementation.
Similarly, former Vice-Chairperson of NPC, Dr Shankar Sharma, said that the state has to bear the extra burden while increasing social security allowance due to competition among political parties. Chairperson of School of Democracy, Nain Singh Mahar, expressed the view that the budget brought without presenting policy and program at the parliament was against the spirit of the constitution.
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