GORKHA: Home Minister and Gorkha Constituency No. 1 lawmaker Sudan Gurung faced tough questions from voters in Shaheed Lakhan Rural Municipality-9 over unfulfilled election promises, prompting him to make an unusually blunt response: if he cannot deliver, voters should take back their votes in the next election.
Gurung was in Shaheed Lakhan-9 last evening for an interaction with local voters when residents questioned him about a commitment he had made during the election to secure a budget for constructing a health laboratory in the area.
Ward secretary Khopendra Lamichhane recalled that Gurung had visited the village during the election campaign and promised to speak with the secretary of the Ministry of Health and arrange funding for the proposed health laboratory.
Lamichhane said Gurung had contacted the ministry secretary with a request for the budget, but the plan did not appear in the budget book. Other voters also questioned Gurung over why the promised funding had not been included despite his assurance.
Responding to the concerns, Gurung said it was not practical to include every small-scale project in the national budget and asked local representatives to prepare a list of priority projects.
“If every small plan is included in the budget book, it will become like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. That is why we have asked for a list. We need to know what should be included,” Gurung said.
A voter then said there had been coordination with the ministry and expressed confidence that the budget would eventually be arranged. Another participant, however, pointed out that local residents were demanding concrete answers from their elected representatives.
Gurung responded by reminding the voters that the government had been in office for only four months and had just introduced its first budget.
“We have been running the government for only four months. Our first budget has just been presented, and its implementation began very recently,” he said.
He said it was impossible to accommodate every ward-level demand in the national budget and urged voters to give the government sufficient time to work.
“If we start including every ward’s plan in the list, how large will the budget become? The list would be endless, let alone the demands of the entire state,” Gurung said.
Gurung acknowledged that he could not transform the constituency within four months and then made a striking appeal to the voters.
“I cannot transform the area in four months. Instead, take back your votes. Don’t let me win next time. But this time, look at five years. Something will be done in five years,” he said.
Gurung has been visiting his home district regularly, following a practice associated with former Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai. He held an interaction with voters in Bhimsen Thapa Rural Municipality on Saturday before meeting residents of Shaheed Lakhan Rural Municipality on Sunday.
Ward Chair Ram Kumar Shrestha and ward secretary Khopendra Lamichhane were also present at Sunday’s interaction programme.
Comment