Mahendranagar, May 31: Intellectuals here from different walks of life have commented positively on the budget for fiscal year 2000/200l presented by Minister for Finance Mahesh Acharya.
Reacting to the budget, ex-minister Lal Bahadur Khadayat said though the budget this time is a good one, it all largely depends on its implementation.
A rise in the pay scale for government employees is praiseworthy but the market prices should not be allowed to rise, he said.
Ex-deputy speaker Bhojraj Joshi said the present budget deviates from the core concept of socialism and lacks a thrust towards industrialisation.
The budget this time is ambitious and intends to lead society to the path of progress, senior advocate Thaneswar Prasad Bhatta says.
Associate professor Badri Prasad Sharma is of the opinion that introducing a package programme for Karnali zone and a rise in the grant for the constituency fund are the positive aspects of the budget.
The present budget which mostly relies on foreign loans and grants is extremely ambitious, but it will prevent the tendency towards tax evasion because of the long term policy adopted in revenue mobilisation.
Senior litteratuer Bhau Panthi said that the present budget is timely and compatible with the prevailing situation. But for results, its implementation should be excellent.
Federation of Nepalese Journalists, Kanchanpur unit vice chairman Prakash Thakuri is of the opinion that the budget this time is far better than the previous one and also result-oriented.
Govt thanked: The council of former public servants has thanked the HMG for remarkably increasing the salaries of all the government employees in the present budget.
The council has said that the government works will be more effective due to the boosting of morale of all the employees by the increase in the salaries.
It also expressed the confidence that the services and facilities to be extended to the people by the government will be further expedited.
CPN (Masal) reacts: The Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) has said that though the remarkable increase made in the salaries of the employees can be taken as a positive trait of the budget presented by the HMG Tuesday, it has not mentioned anything about steps to be taken to control of price hike which could further create problems in the living standard of the general public.
In a press statement signed by the party politbureau member Chitra Bahadur K.C., the party says though the budget is bigger in size as compared to the previous years, no significant changes will take place in the development of the country as the development and general expenditure budget had been kept at the same level.
The United Marxist Front has said there is no clear and solid programme to infuse hope and excitement in the overwhelmingly poor people of the country, adding that there is a suspicion that they will be implemented on the basis of the past experience though there are limited number of minor reforms.
The provision made for all those receiving government facilities to file property details annually and consfiscation of undeclared property if the source is not clarified can be considered as some of the positive steps if implemented positively, United Marxist front said, adding that the salaries of the employees had been increased in a non progressive manner as the high level employees had received more while the lower level employees received less.