Kathmandu, June 8: At the meeting of the House of Representatives today, MPs belonging to the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Samyukta Janamorcha (SJM), Rastriya Janamorcha (RJM) and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) boycotted the deliberations alleging that the budget had not been allocated in accordance with the principles of balanced development.

Taking time from Speaker Taranath Ranabhat, Pari Thapa of the Rastriya Janamorcha said that the government had not been working in the interest of the nation and the people and announced the boycotting of the House for half an hour to protest against the allocation of budget arbitrarily by giving priority to the districts of the Prime Minister, the ministers and the leader of the main opposition party.

Lilamani Pokharel of the Samyukta Janamorcha said that as the chairman of Human Rights Commission had expressed controversial views in B.B.C. and various vernacular periodicals, he should resign forthwith on moral ground and sought information on the terms and conditions agreed by the government for the resumption of the services of the Indian Airlines.

The opinions of the MPs taken by the National Planning Commission for the preparation of budget had been neglected, he alleged and added that as the budget had been introduced in an unplanned and arbitrary manner, his party boycotted the meeting for twenty-seven minutes.

Narayan Man Bijukchhe of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party strongly objected to the preparation of budget without covering the views of the MPs and forgetting the needs of the country and boycotted the deliberations of the House for half an Hour.

Govinda Bikram Shaha of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party said that more sum had been allocated for the easily accessible region and less for the remote and backward regions. As the budget allocations had been made in unequal, wrong and unjustifiable manner, his party would be boycotting the deliberations for half an hour, he said.

Meanwhile Speaker Taranath Ranabhat adjourned the meeting of the House of Representatives today for half an hour due to the absence of the Finance Minister and officials of the Finance Ministry when the discussion on different heads of the appropriation bill-2057 began at the House of Representatives.

On the occasion, the Speaker asked the Chief Whip Binaya Dhoj Chand the reason for the absence of the Finance Minister and the Finance Ministry officials at the meeting.

The Speaker ordered chief whip Chand to stand up from his chair and asked in a commanding voice as to why the Finance Minister and the Finance Ministry officials were not present during discussions on an important matter as the heads of the appropriation bill.

Chief Whip Chand drew the attention of the Speaker towards the presence of the members of the National Planning Commission even if the Finance Minister and his associates were not present.

But as this did not satisfy Speaker Ranabhat. He directed that the presence of the Finance Minister and the Finance Secretary should be compulsory while the discussion on the appropriation bill is underway .

As the Chief Whip responded that the Finance Minister will be immediately informed about it, the Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour in anticipation.

Earlier, as soon as the Speaker had announced that the discussions on various heads of the appropriation bill-2057 had begun, Dr. Banshidhar Mishra of the CPN-UML demanded clarification from the government why no amount had been mentioned under heads of Sarlahi and Rautahat districts although Rs 40 million has been appropriated for the river control in Rautahat and Sarlahi under the Bagmati project.

With the opposition MPs walking out of the House of Representatives, which was scheduled to initiate debate on appropriation heads today, citing the absence of the Finance Minister and other officials of the Finance Ministry as the reaason, the Lower House meeting was adjourned at about 1:30 p.m.. The meeting resumed only at about 2:30 p.m in the afternoon.

Soon after the start of the meeting, CPN-UML’s Prem Bahadur Singh said since the appropriation of the budget was seriously eronious, the Finance Minister should make things clear to the House.

Dr Dilli Raj Khanal of the same party argued that the appropriation of the budget lacked transparency and accountability, and is far from realistic. Discussion on appropriation of the budget is not possible without reaching an agreement on its policy aspects, he added.

He also alleged that the suggestions presented by MPs at a programme organised by the National Planning Commission have been ignored totally.

Dr Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, also of CPN-UML, wondered how discussions can be held on the appropriation of budget which includes foreign aided programmes on which bilateral agreements have not yet been signed and programmes on which agreements have been signed but the assistance has not yet been received.

Likewise, Urmila Aryal, Pradip Nepal, Kunta Sharma, Gokarna Raj Bista, Ananda Prasad Pokhrel, Sohan Prasad Chaudhari, Suresh Kumar Karki, Jagannath Khatiwada, Krishna Prasad Dahal, Rajendra Prasad Pandey, Ratna Prasad Sharma Neupane and Som Prasad Pandey also demanded the Finance Minister’s clarification before discussing the budget appropriation.

Speaker Ranabhat urged the opposition MPs to express their views on the appropriation of budget in course of the debate on appropriation heads.

Meanwhile, regular proceedings of the House of Representatives were disrupted today with the main opposition party MPs created a commotion demanding the Finance Minister’s clarification regarding the appropriation of budget.

Even after the Finance Minister tried his best to make things clear, the opposition MPs were not happy and again demanded another clarification arguing that the budget was full of prejudice.

Immediately after the speaker announced the beginning of debate on appropriation heads, the CPN-UML MPs picketted the well and the rostrum for about 10 minutes.

After they returned to their seats at the request of the speaker, the speaker urged the Chief Whips and whips of the ruling and opposition parties to suggest a way out of the problem.

Chief Whip of the ruling party Binaya Dhoj Chand said the House proceedings and discussions to solve the problem can go on simultaneously at the House and at the House premises, while CPN-UML deputy leader rejected the idea.

The speaker again asked the MPs to initiate debate on appropriation heads prompting the opposition members to picket the well and rostrum for about three minutes.