E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, SEP 18 - Under pressure from coalition partners, the Madhes-based parties, the government has decided to make changes to the budget--including the possibility of adding a new pork-barrel development expenditure earmarked for each electoral constituency--a day before the budget is up for parliamentary endorsement.

It wasn't immediately clear what the amount of the development spending will be reallocated for the pork-barrel projects, but the documents being circulated by Madhesi parties suggested that this will be a discretionary spending, perhaps to be administered only by the discredited all-party mechanism at the local level. 

The Rs. 384.9 billion budget that was initially scheduled to be endorsed by the Parliament on Sunday without any revision could now see an incorporation of 13-point Madhesi demands.

The decision to this effect was reached at meeting in Singha Durbar on Saturday evening between the Maoists and Madhesi Morcha.

“The budget would be passed after incorporating Madhesi demands as per the four-point agreement,” said prime minister's Press Advisor Ram Rijan Yadav.  Finance Minister Barsa Man Pun had earlier assured that the budget unveiled by the then Jhala Nath Khanal government would be passed by the government without any changes.

But emerging from the talks between the ruling parties on Saturday evening, Defence Minister Sarad Singh Bhandari said that Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had assured the Madhesi parties of addressing their demands in the budget.

During the discussion, the Madhes-based parties presented the 13-point demands to be included in the budget. These include among others, establishing schools in the native places of those martyred during the Madhes uprising, relaxing the provision of brief custom clearance document required while bringing goods worth more than Rs 100. This relaxation is asked in reference to the goods brought in from India for the purpose of marriage and other social events. The demand also includes relaxing the custom while bringing goods for non-commercial purpose. The demand also includes bringing in new development programmes in all the 240 constituencies for that of road, irrigation, health and education-an allocation that could be spent outside existing structure of District Development Committee.

 

Posted on: 2011-09-18 05:00

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