Chief Minister Bhatta Announces Budget Rewrite and Passage Within a Month

Dhangadhi: The Sudurpaschim Province government is preparing to rewrite and pass the budget for the current fiscal year 2083/84, which is currently under consideration in the Provincial Assembly.

Chief Minister Khagraj Bhatta announced that the budget will be rewritten while seeking a vote of confidence in the Provincial Assembly on Wednesday. He said the work would be expedited by keeping the offices of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers open even on holidays, except for some festivals.

Chief Minister Bhatta emphasized that the budget should be rewritten and passed in line with the expectations of the people. With only one month remaining for budget implementation, he said the processes of rewriting, passing and implementing the budget should be accelerated.

“There is pressure to rewrite the budget, pass it and implement it,” Chief Minister Bhatta said.

He said his government would not focus development on any particular area or city, but would advance the hills, mountains and Terai regions of the province in a balanced, proportional and inclusive manner.

Bhatta said the rewritten budget would prioritize education, health, drinking water, sanitation, economic, social and human development, along with physical infrastructure.

“We resolve to change the face of the Far West by bringing a wave of education, health and development,” he said. “The mobilization of state resources and means should be under a coherent system.”

Chief Minister Bhatta said some good programs included in the budget introduced by the previous government would be retained through the rewriting process. Clarifying that the budget would not be completely new, he said it would be taken forward with necessary improvements.

“What you have brought has not been passed,” he said, referring to the Nepali Congress. “We have said that it will be rewritten. That does not mean writing a completely new one. We will discuss and draw conclusions and improve whatever bad things are in it. We have no objection to making the good things in it a part of the rewriting.”

After outgoing Minister for Economic Affairs Bikram Singh Dhami expressed concern that the budget he had allocated would be cut, the Chief Minister responded that the budget would be brought by including all sectors.

The government is preparing to accelerate budget implementation during the remaining period after rewriting it and securing its passage from the Provincial Assembly. The government aims to expedite the plans and programs of the provincial government, whose implementation has been affected for a long time due to the failure to pass the budget.