Kathmandu, June 3: Taking part in the discussions on the annual estimates of revenue and expenditure for Fiscal Year 2000/2001 at the House of Representatives on Friday, Brijesh Kumar Gupta of the RPP said although the budget statement made mentions of decentra-lisation, it did not specifically spell out the decentralisation policy.

He said pay rise of the government employees was not in equal proportion and the budget failed to bring out concrete programmes for the integrated agricultural development.

Mrs Urmila Aryal of the CPN-UML stated that economic productivity and employment growth were hard to achieve since the new budget did not fall in line with the principles of equitable economic distribution.

She said the budget failed to incorporate the long term agricultural programme in its policy statement, no concrete programmes were suggested in the small farmers development plan, land reforms and provision of improved seeds and chemical fertilisers to farmers. She also said the budget was silent on the Melamchi Water Supply Project to resolve the problem of drinking water in the Kathmandu Valley.

Dilli Raj Sharma of the Nepali Congress said the budget has laid special emphasis on the social, economic, political and cultural development in the country. He said it wanted to materialise the slogan of “Justice to the Voiceless and Income to the Deprived”.

Overall, the budget is balanced and positive, he said, adding the pay scale of the government employees has been significantly increased, concrete programmes for checking corruption and financial irregularities have been spelled out and emphasis has been given for the integrated development of Karnali Zone.

Prem Bahadur Singh of the CPN-UML expressed the doubt that revenue collection would be as estimated in the budget. He said the situation was such that it would be hard for the government to get the expected level of foreign loans and assistance.

The pay rise of civil servants announced by the budget is not proportionate, fund allocated for the judiciary is not adequate and it is difficult for bank transactions to take place at border points in the northern parts of the country, he said.

Ghanendra Basnet, also of the CPN-UML said that the Nepali currency has depreciated a lot in the last ten years, inflation, unemployment, corruption and foreign indebtedness has increased and domestic industries have been ruined.

He commented that the increase in the salary of government employees was done in a disproportionate manner, no concrete programmes were spelled out for land plotting and land reforms and emphasis was not given to technical and vocational sectors. The budget is traditional and ambitious, he added.

Arjun Prasad Joshi of the Nepali Congress said although ambitious at face value, the budget focused on the upliftment of the economically deprived people of the remote areas, spelled out programmes for the benefit of the Kamaiyas, down-trodden and oppressed as well as the elderly and the incapacitated.

He also said that the budget contained integrated programmes for the development of agricultural roads, rural roads, provision of improved seeds and fertilisers for increasing the productivity in the agriculture sector. Moreover, he said the budget promised a national policy on hydroelectricity development, the salary of government employees has been raised after a long time and was promising if properly implemented.

Mahendra Bahadur Pandey of the CPN-UML complained the fund for the local bodies had not been increased and the neglect of the private sector mobilisation despite increasing the budgetary allocation for the law and order maintenance. He said the budget also did not accord priority to the improvement of the agriculture, industry, development and revenue collection aspects.

Narayan Prakash Saud of the Nepali Congress expressed the view that the budget reflected the country’s achievements after the restoration of democracy. He said the increase in the salary of government employees and the emphasis given to poverty alleviation were some of the positive aspects of the budget.

The budget also aims to take the fruits of development to the under-developed and backward areas and to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, he added.

Yadav Bahadur Rayamajhi of the CPN-UML stated that there was no basis in the projection of revenue mobilisation target and development projects were likely to suffer as development expenditure would be badly affected since there was no grounds that foreign aid and grants would flow in sufficient amount.

Although the budget stresses poverty reduction, there is no solid programme to back up the claim and there is no concrete programme to revive the dying industries, he complained.

Ratna Prasad Sharma Neupane of the same party said the budget lacked concrete programmes for the development of the immense hydropower potential of the country and neither did it accord priority to employment generation through development of agro-based industries and development of industries.

He also alleged that the budget failed to come up with reliable basis on which it would achieve the objective of revenue mobilisation.

Binaya Dhoj Chand of the Nepali Congress said he felt the main drawbacks of the budget pointed out by the opposition should be considered and appropriate revisions made in the relevant clauses. He said the objectives of the budget statement would be achieved if implemented properly.

Gokarna Raj Bista of the CPN-UML said the budget for Fiscal Year 2000/2001 further compounded the economic woes of the country in the name of economic liberalisation and privatisation. He said the budget was over ambitious to target a massive economic growth and revenue collection that surpassed the average growth achieved in the past ten years.

He accused the budget was centralised in its allocation of development funds and that allocation for the agriculture sector which has been regarded as the core sector for poverty alleviation was far in proportion to the percentage increase in the development expenditure.

Meanwhile in, the National Assembly at its meeting Friday started discussions on the annual estimates of revenue and expenditures for the fiscal year 2000/01.

Taking part in the discussions, leader of the main opposition party at the National Assembly Yubaraj Gyawali said that the budget is unable to address the problems of poverty and unemployment which is growing at the rate of 300,000 every year, cottage and small scale industries are facing crisis, the industries which were privatised have not been properly evaluated and the government has not included matters relating to agriculture and irrigation in the budget.

Shukra Raj Sharma of the Nepali Congress said in view of the experiences of the past ten years of democracy, the present government has come up with the budget and termed the budget highly progressive since it has touched upon all issues including law and order, unemployment, control of corruption, good governance, poverty alleviation, etc.

Rabindranath Sharma of RPP noted that the budget has given more attention to general expenditures rather than to development expenditure and several points of the ninth plan have not been included in it.

MP Ashok Nath Tiwari said the budget is highly ambitious and the deficit amount which will run to Rs 12 billion is bound to raise inflation, adding that the budget has not prioritised the policy of decentralization and every individual holding public posts should make public their property details.

CPN-UML’s Kashinath Adhikari remarked that the budget is confusing in terms of strengthening the country’s economy, the issue of privatisation has come without first analysing the industries privatised in the past and there is no concrete policy for land reforms and agriculture development.

NC’s Ganga Dutta Joshi said the budget has accommodated such issues as poverty alleviation, economic prosperity and national development and it is pro-poor and pro-women.

Devraj Ghimire of the CPN-UML said despite the claims that the economic indicators have been showing good trend in the past ten years of democracy, the economic situation is getting worse and worse day by day, and the revenue projection is made on Ad-hoc basis.

NC’s Tilak Prasad Neupane noted that the Congress government has laid focus on Karnali zone which lay in the dark for 30 years and programmes have been brought about for the welfare of the dalits, various nationalities scattered across the country and the Kamaiyas or bonded labourers.

CPN-UML’s Bachaspati Devkota complained that more than 50 per cent of the people are living under absolute poverty which and health services are not easily available in the rural areas.

NC’s Komal Bahadur Ghale said the present budget has given top priority to poverty alleviation, different ways have been adopted for revenue mobilisation, tax base has been broadened to include all levels of tax payers and salary has been hiked to boost the morale of employees.

Ram Chandra Bhattarai of the CPN-UML expressed the view that the budget prepared with the slogan of “Income to the Poor and Justice to the Helpless” has deceived the people, demanding information about the Rs 2 billion brought in by the Finance Minister from the Paris meeting.

NC’s Sukraraj Samyok said the government should pay attention to allocating more budget for the Tehrathum-Myanglung road and the increase of salary of employees is highly laudable.