Kathmandu, June 9: Regular business of the House of Representatives could not pick up today after the opposition MPs boycotted the meeting citing that the appropriation of the budget was not balanced and transparent.
The meeting which got off to a slow start some seven hours behind schedule at 6.40 p.m. was adjourned by Speaker Taranath Ranabhat till 1 a.m. earlier after the opposition MPs boycotted the meeting arguing that the regular proceedings of the House cannot be started unless the mistakes in the appropriation bill are corrected.
Soon after the start of the meeting, CPN-UML’s Subas Chandra Nemwang demanded information about the queries put forward by his party about the appropriation heads.
Govinda Bikram Shaha of the RPP demanded that the Home Minister should inform the house of the Panchkatiya incident which took place Wednesday.
Hem Narayan Yadav of the CPN-UML complained that there have been irregularities while distributing voters’ identity cards and those who opposed it are harassed and assaulted by the goons.
NC’s Tanka Prasad Sharma Kandel demanded action against those who assaulted with Khukuris student leader Krishna Bahadur KC of Baglung district who is undergoing treatment at a local health post.
Arjun Prasad Joshi and Rajendra Kharel of the same party urged that parliamentary business be advanced since this is the venue for finding solutions to the people’s problems, adding that it is because of the House adjournment we have not been able to give serious attention to Nepali patriots who have been implicated in a “RAW” report.
NC’s Shiva Prasad Humangain and Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh remarked that the oppositions should not adjourn the House since this is the time for discussions to resolve the urgent probelms facing the country and spoke of the need to rescue 12 persons who have been stranded in the swollen Seti and Kalanga rivers caused by incessant rains.
CPN-UML’s Parshuram Meghi Gurung said the House cannot be kept in the dark while RPP’s Netra Lal Shrestha noted that there is partiality in budget appropriations, programmes do not mean for recruiting party workers and attention should be given to the people victimized by both the police and the Maoists who are camping near Bhadrakali.
Lilamani Pokhrel of Samyukta Janamorcha, stressing the need to make every government activity transparent, said there is ample room for correction in the budget.
Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav of Nepal Sadbhavana Party said the opposition has no trust at all in the activities of the government. He also stressed the need to correct the budget appropriation.
Bharat Kumar Shaha of Nepali Congress urged the opposition benches not to disrupt the parliamentary proceedings since the Prime Minister has already expressed his commitment to allocating budget in lump sum for the development of some districts and spending the budget on the basis of all party consensus.
RPP’s Renu Kumari Yadav accused the committee headed by Sher Bahadur Deuba of failing to initiate the process of dialogue with the Maoists and alleged that the B. P. with the Poor and women’s awareness and income generation programmes were meant for giving job to congressmen.
Ram Chandra Tiwari of the NC said the budget has been appropriated in such a manner as to promote the interest of the country and the people; the government is not obliged to satisfy every demand of the opposition.
CPN-UML’s Prakash Jwala and K. P. Sharma Oli also criticized the budget appropriation.
When NC’s Romi Gauchan was about to speak, CPN-UML MPs created a commotion and at about 7:00 walked out of the House. RPP and Nepal Sadbhavana Party MPs also followed suit.